#I have 'i have to be silly or ill die' disease sorry

[junosmindpalace]

hear me out, that last dr stone angst but write a continuation where everybody learns that y/n was dead and senku’s reaction to discovering that it was his fault <3

"Amongst that crowd, Senku was one of those who stared at you in horror. "

hooooly this is finally finished! the long awaited epilogue to the hanahaki story! this was pretty difficult to write- i wanted to cover as much as i could without making it too lengthy while being realistic, which wasn't easy. im a bit iffy about some of the characterization, but nevertheless, i hope it was worth the wait! thank you for your patience!

warnings: detailed descriptions of death, blood, sickness, grief, intrusive thoughts, burning of a body (sorry its a lot but considering the theme...). if i should add any warnings, PLEASE let me know. some manga spoilers but nothing too major!

words: 3,374

Constructive feedback is always welcome! I’m always looking to improve!

Requests are open! (checked my pinned post!)

The concept of the Hanahaki disease was first introduced to Ishigami Village through the one hundred tales. It was mentioned briefly- a woman, in love with a man who didn’t love her back, had suffocated on yellow tulip petals that she couldn’t stop throwing up. There had been no record of anyone in the village ever experiencing such a sickness, and many assumed the story was a metaphor or a lesson like the other tales. Simply a fictional disease. 

“What a silly way to die.” You had thought to yourself when you first heard of the illness as a young child. If only you knew you’d be in the same position as the woman in the story, suffocating on yellow tulip petals because the man you were in love with didn’t love you back. 

In your final moments, you saw your life flash before your eyes, internally laughing at the cliché. You saw yourself with your best friends, Kohaku, Ruri, Chrome, Kinro and Ginro, little Suika and old man Kaseki. You saw yourself with the man you had fallen in love with, acquainting him, working with him, becoming friends. 

Senku Ishigami. The brilliant scientist who Kohaku one day brought home and helped heal her sick older sister. A man of the future who told you all sorts of stories, created all sorts of things from his time and shaped your world into something magical. Senku Ishigami is quite a guy.

Which is why in the end, you didn’t regret loving him. Though you wish you could’ve lived long enough to start a new chapter with him after defeating Tsukasa, you passed on to the next world happy that you were able to indulge in everything he was. 

You did feel guilty leaving your friends--your family--behind though. You didn’t want to, but you couldn’t find a cure to heal you of your sickness. Keeping your condition hidden (with the exception of your mentalist friend finding out) made it difficult to focus on finding a cure, covering for yourself and helping the Kingdom of Science in their war against the Tsukasa Empire. And so one day during your final stages of hanahaki, Gen Asagiri had found you dead in your tent, covered in yellow tulips and stained with blood, and rushed off crying for help. 

Ukyo, with his super sharp hearing, was the first to hear Gen’s distant cries. He called for everyone’s attention and they all turned toward the sound of Gen’s panting and shouting. When he finally reached everyone, he stared at the citizens wide eyed. Though the war against the Tsukasa Empire had ended, the Kingdom of Science had a new mission: to establish cities all over the globe. To do that, they needed to make a ship and prepare for the journey. Senku and some others had returned only minutes ago from retrieving a ship captain- he could tell by the  unfamiliar stranger standing next to them. Gen didn’t have time to think about it. “It’s Y/N.”

Something wasn’t right. Gen had a wild look in his eyes as if he’d seen a dead man, was visibly shaking, and Senku deduced he had just returned from visiting your tent as you weren’t present when the group left. Kohaku too could tell that something was off and made the same deduction Senku did. In her hard-headed nature, she rushed past Gen and toward your tent in a panic. Some people tried stopping her, but gave up quickly upon realizing their efforts were futile.

“Gonna need you to be a bit more specific, Gen.” Senku's tone was airy, but he was trying not to make his desperation to know what happened to you evident. 

“Y/N…”

“C’mon mentalist, spit it out.”

“...is...dead.”

-

When Kohaku barged into your tent, she was appalled at the horrifying sight. She collapsed at your side, crying out at you and cradling you in her arms.  Pools of blood, flowers, flowers drenched in blood, all of it surrounded your body. “Y/N? Y/N, say something. Please, Y/N, please say something.” She pleaded at your body as she pressed her forehead against yours, tears rapidly falling from her eyes and onto your blood stained face. You couldn’t hear any of it.

A crowd shortly formed at the entrance of your tent where gasps and mutters were exchanged. Some stared at the sight in shock and horror, some looked away in disgust and anguish. 

Amongst that crowd, Senku was one of those who stared at you in horror. 

Hanahaki wasn’t an unheard of disease in the modern world. Of course it existed, but little was known about proper treatment. In the age of advanced medicines, there were only two sure cures: one was surgery, the other was requited love. 

Kohaku turned toward the crowd with a heavy flow of tears rolling down her face. She held you close to her chest in a protective manner, as if attempting to shield you from the damage you had inflicted onto yourself. “We’ve got to be able to do something! Senku! We have to help them!”

For the first time ever, Senku’s senses dulled for what seemed like an eternity. His mind couldn’t process the sight of his friend covered in their own blood, unconscious and completely unmoving. His mind rejected the fact that your body had been completely drained of life as his fingers brushed yours while checking your pulse. When did he force himself through the crowd and crouch down beside you? 

“Senku! We have to act now!”

Everyone dies at some point, Senku knows and accepts this, but he’s never felt more distressed than he does right now looking at your lifeless, sickly frame. He’s had to cope with a lot of hardships in a short amount of time- the loss of his dad, his life, his departure from his two best friends, and though he could argue that the worst has come to shove, he felt physically sick as he continued to stare at you, head spinning, his chest blazing. 

“Senku! Say something!”

“T-They’re beyond saving. Too much blood loss…” Snap out of it, Senku, he told himself firmly. Squeezing his eyes shut, he shook his head and let out a deep exhale, frustration and grief slowly overwhelming both his mind and body. “They lost too much blood overnight, and even if we were to find them sooner, blood transfusions can have their own complications. There’s-,” Senku swallows. What he said next pained him from the very depths of his soul. He’s the calm and collected type who works well even under extreme pressure and always keeps his wits, always finding solutions despite having terrible luck on his side, and so the crack in his voice betrays his attempt at remaining composed when he utters “there’s…not much we could have done.” 

Senku slowly turned toward the crowd and fixed his gaze on Gen, who was staring at you with sheer terror in his face. He seemed to be two seconds away from a complete breakdown. “Gen, did you know?” 

The mentalist’s eyes snapped toward the scientist’s, hard to detect emotion in his crimson ones. Gen gulped; he knew Senku was referring to the disease. “Yes. It was important to Y/N for their condition to be kept secret. I…connected the dots on my own.” 

“Hang on, condition? What condition?” Chrome’s uneasy and slightly angry voice suddenly rang out as he pushed past the crowd toward the front to stand beside Gen. Kohaku’s teary eyed darted from you to her friends. She thought hard. Condition. Flowers. Death. 

“Could it be…”

“Gen.” Senku yet again directed a question to the magician, cutting off Kohaku. “Why don’t you explain to all of us what happened to Y/N?” 

-

It was important that the entirety of the Kingdom of Science was informed of your death and the events leading up to it. The crowd that had formed at your tent, mostly your friends and those from Ishigami Village, rounded up the elders, newcomers, and former members of the Tsukasa Empire to the middle of the base, where Gen began his explanation. 

He explained what the Hanahaki disease was, the coughing of flowers and petals, the two known cures, and how either were unavailable to you. He recalled first noticing your symptoms, his confrontation on the eve of delivering the cellphone and your desperation to keep the disease a secret, afraid of burdening others during a critical period in the waging war between the Tsukasa Empire and the Kingdom of Science. He admitted to covering on behalf of you and even explained how he tried curing you with the sulfa-drug. 

Senku had cut in to explain to the angry villagers why the so-called “panacea” didn’t work on you. “The sulfa-drug is meant to cure bacterial infections such as Ruri’s pneumonia. Hanahaki, however, doesn’t work like most sicknesses and normal means of treatment aren’t successful. Considering the nature of the disease, no ordinary medicine would be able to fully cure it.” 

“Someone could’ve saved Y/N though, right?” Someone in the crowd called out. “Someone had to return their feelings!” 

“...Yes.” Senku turned toward Gen, but kept his gaze fixed to the ground. “So Gen, who was Y/N’s sweetheart?” 

Gen smiled as he regrettably told the scientist, “It was you, dear Senku.” 

Senku’s convinced that this is the worst of his bad luck. 

-

The Kingdom of Science’s first loss was a heavy burden on everyone, especially those from Ishigami Village who considered you family. 

Kohaku’s face was grim the first couple of days with you gone. Being known as the strongest out of everyone in her village, she felt angry for being so powerless. Feelings of regret only fueled her anger and grief as she reflected on times when she would catch you coughing or sneaking off and not persist with questions or investigating. She dropped her guard and wasn’t able to help her loved one, and she felt disgusted with herself. Ruri did her best to comfort her younger sister, but even she felt a tremendous guilt. As someone who suffered with an illness her entire life and had an important role to play in the village, she regrets not being more concerned with your symptoms and shared Kohaku’s regret in not persisting enough with questions. 

All Suika ever wanted was to be helpful, and she failed in assisting you with your sickness. The seemingly never ending energy she always had was drained for a long while. She looked up to you as an older sibling, perhaps even a parental figure, and now you were gone. You had always done so much for her, constantly making sure she was safe, teaching her things you learned from Senku and the other villagers, and comforting her when she felt scared or sad, yet Suika wasn’t able to repay you. You saved her so many times, but she couldn’t save you. Nobody let Suika go anywhere near your body, but she managed to catch a glimpse of you being carried out of your tent with a white cloth over you, and as the reality of it all settled in, she panicked so bad she passed out. 

Kinro and Ginro had a duty to protect their village and everyone in it, yet they couldn’t protect you. Admittedly, they don’t understand much about science and medicine, but they trained hard and stood guard day and night so the villagers of Ishigami Village could go about themselves without having to fear any doom. Ginro, in his anxious nature, was horrified by your death, scared for his life and set into a panic. He was afraid that the hanahaki disease would claim his life next, and Senku had to explain that the disease isn’t contagious when Gen addressed everyone. While Ginro was making a fuss, Kinro hit him over his head with his spear and told him to can it. Kinro wished the disease was a physical foe he was able to defeat or at least had known about. He, like Kohaku, felt angry for being so powerless. He did his best to appear strong, though his teary eyes betrayed him.

Chrome had millions of thoughts and feelings rushing over him at once almost 24/7, all of them suffocating. You had been best friends ever since the two of you were young, and instead of figuring out you were ill, he had to witness you bathe in a pool of your own blood. He felt sick, hell, he even got sick multiple times, the sight and situation heavy on his mind and heart. Chrome was angry at you, but most especially angry at himself, and the questions he had for you were meters of mental parchment long. Why didn’t you feel like you could confide in him? How could he not notice the pain you were in? Couldn’t you trust him to help you? What troubled him the most was the recurring and realistic thought that, even if you did bring your situation to his awareness, he couldn’t have done anything about it. 

Kaseki didn’t disguise his sadness and openly cried over your death, which only made those who tried to appear strong, like Kinro, more emotional. He spoke about how your life was taken so tragically and far too soon, sorrowful that an old man like him outlived a spunky young person such as yourself. He cursed out the disease and how something so beautiful such as flowers could be so deadly and lead to your demise. 

Those who didn’t know you very well were still shocked that someone had passed. Ukyo, who had joined the Kingdom of Science under the condition that not a single life is lost, felt very conflicted about the circumstances of your death. He knew that nobody was responsible for your death, and it was the disease that had claimed your life, but he couldn’t help feeling a little resentful. He kept a close eye on Senku ever since Gen revealed that it was he who could’ve saved you. 

Like Ukyo, Taiju and Yuzuriha couldn’t believe that someone had actually died. They too kept close eyes on Senku and did their best to give him the space they knew he needed to reflect. Neither of them knew you very well, but from the short time they did, you seemed like an amazing individual and could tell you were special to many, including their best friend, from the impact your death had on them all. 

Gen was scared and felt largely responsible for your death. Intrusive thoughts and dreams about you plagued him day and night, your strained voice echoing in the back of his mind feeding into his guilt. You killed me, choked out your voice. I don’t wanna die, you cried out, and nothing Gen did could drown out your voice. He felt hopeless, weak and a coward. Before, he didn’t mind being all these things, but now with you gone, with the slight chance that he could’ve been able to save you, he regretted demonstrating these qualities in such a serious situation. He’d shrink into himself, hiding his face behind his face while thinking “why trust me, Y/N? Why me?” 

-

“Why me, Y/N?” was a frequent thought Senku was plagued with. While everyone was taking time off their tasks to cope with your passing, Senku spent a lot of his time holed up in the lab back at Ishigami Village. 

He was frustrated, like many others. He was conflicted on how to feel about your death and didn’t know how to react. You were a close friend of his that he cared very deeply about, a friend that he cared about in the same way he cared about Kohaku or Chrome. You didn’t do anything wrong, his friends have told him, and though he knows himself, he’s glad because admittedly, he finds himself needing the reminder. 

To think that it was because he didn’t return your romantic feelings for him that led to your death was a heavy burden that he knows you did your best to avoid shouldering onto him. He knew how you were; selfless and courageous to the very end. It was one of the things that he liked so much about you, but in this instance, he wished you were a little bit selfish. Senku knew that you kept your illness a secret to avoid weighing down the others, and he regrettably admitted to himself that if you were to come forward with your disease, it may have slowed down productivity. Along with the burden of war would come the burden of sickness, and that was an obstacle that everyone had already celebrated in overcoming. For it to be revealed that there was a new sickness to be concerned about would’ve lowered morale significantly. 

But it was your life on the line. You could’ve at least come to him. He’s a scientist, but most importantly, he’s Senku. He isn’t the type to walk away from trouble or to back down from a tricky problem. He sticks with something till the very end; until he’s found a loophole, concocted a seemingly impossible plan, or has gone through every single step of a painstaking project. He would’ve been by your side, he would’ve helped you. 

He’s ten billion percent sure of it. 

And he has to stabilize himself by putting his hand on the table as the thought of being too much for your friend to handle brought tears to his eyes. He constantly puts his trust in those around him, sometimes because he needs to, but mostly because he chooses to, and from the very first day he’s met you, he chose to trust you. 

So why couldn’t you trust him? 

He’s let you down. He’s done so much for others, and yet he’s let his friend down. 

-

Eventually, everyone had to proceed with their travel plans. There was still a lot that had to be done before a crew could set off establishing cities around the world. 

Ryusui had suggested that you were set out to sea as a symbolic gesture to represent where you grew up and where you were headed off to. A small boat was created for your body to lay in, along with your possessions and flowers. It felt ironic to some to send you off with the very same thing that killed you. When you drifted far enough, Ukyo drew a fire arrow and shot it onto your boat. The flames devoured everything on board, and many couldn’t bear to watch as your body became engulfed in the scorching fire. A gravestone was marked in Ishigami Village’s cemetery with your name, date of birth and death. Below, “beloved friend and family” was carved by Kaseki. 

Many people visited your grave regularly while preparations were made, vowing to continue doing their best and to create the future you dreamt of being a part of. They paid their respects and said their goodbyes before departing for the long journey ahead of them, and once they returned, they sat around your grave and talked to it about all of their adventures and achievements, laughing and feeling comforted by the presence of your spirit. 

-

Though Senku had said his goodbyes with the rest of the group, he returned to the cemetery in the early morning of the crew's departure. He kneeled and bowed his head, placing one hand on the stone with your name carved in front of him. Tears trickled down his face and onto the soil that you were raised on, on the same Earth that you trekked on and explored with Senku. 

Senku thinks he’ll always be angry over your death. He’s lost a lot, and the grief will always be with him, but he swears to you as his grip on the stone tightens that he’ll bring the future you were so enamored with to fruition. He got up and headed for the docks with the promise of restoring humanity for the sake of you and all those who never were able to live to see it. He’ll keep you in his thoughts throughout every step.

And that proves true years later as Senku works on his newest science project with his unwavering determination and resolution that was fuelled by the idea of being able to see you again.

[pencil-peach]

G Witch Onscreen Text: Episode 19

Haku Haku ! It is once again time! This is part 20 of my series where I transcribe and discuss the onscreen text of G Witch, as well as talk about and analyze interesting things episode by episode. We're on Episode 19: "Not the Best Way."

<< Click here to return to Episode 18 Or Click here to return to the Masterpost

We're going back to Earth...

We open the episode on a conversation between Guel and Miorine. Miorine comments on how close they are to earth, and Guel responds, "You've always wanted to go there, right?" (Left)

It could be read that Notrette might have been Earthian, which is one of the reasons why Miorine wanted to go there so badly, to be closer to her mother.

After Kenanji enters and leaves, Miorine asks him, "Don't you hate being back on Earth even more?"

I'm really really fascinated by this line because it means that at some point, Guel and Miorine talked about what happened to him when he was on Earth. How much did he tell her? Does she know about Seethia? Does she know that he killed his father? What I wouldn't give to have seen that conversation.

On the whole, I really enjoy the brief glimpses we get into their post-Asticassia dynamic. It's hard to call them friends exactly, but it's clear their relationship is now built on mutual trust and respect. And despite the seriousness of their circumstances, they can still be silly with each other: Miorine: Are you really the same Guel Jeturk...? Guel: Plus, I can't trust you to handle the negotiations alone. Mio: HA??? What's that supposed to mean?? [Angrily drinks her juice.] Or like in last episode where Guel shows her the schwarzette and she's really angrily like, "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME??" and he's like "IT'S NEWS TO ME TOO OKAY!!!"

Like they're silly! It's cute !

Sorry for liking Guel Jeturk it will happen every day forever until I die lol

Look at his gay little pose here. Why is he sitting like that. It's making me so mad look at him.

When Godoy tells Prospera that he's located and verified the source of the Lfrith Models, Prospera comments that she's, "...grateful [he] has so many friends."

I've already talked about how sad I am that we never learn anything about Godoy, considering that he seems to have connections all across space. How did he and Prospera meet, I wonder? How did he become so connected? Is he Earthian? I guess it's just one of those things we'll never know.

Anyway, Prospera tells him that "The wait is over," and to "please proceed with the preparations." Lending further credence that Quiet Zero being completed was never an issue. The only remaining issue to correct was the existence of the Lfriths, and now that it's being taken care of, it can truly begin.

I like that Secelia just actually gives Martin good counseling in this scene but is definitely also just fucking with him. She's a good person but also happens to be a bitch. She's perfect !

As the Benerit Gang take the Permet lift down to the station, we hear over an intercom that in accordance with the "Earth Sphere Biological Protection Act," all passengers entering from beyond the Earth Sphere are required to undergo a biosecurity check. (Left) This isn't the first time we overhear biosafety information over an intercom, as in Episode 2 (Right) we hear a brief glimpse about preventive measures being put in place to stop the infectious spread of a disease known as "SV29." (There's also an anecdote in Cradle Planet where Suletta recieves a vaccination)

It seems that biosafety is a major concern in Ad Stella, which makes sense, spaceborn illnesses must be super scary !

Something to note is that in the next scene, we see a panning shot of a highway, with a visible highway exit sign in front. But unlike many of the other signs in the show, the text on the sign is completely illegible, being made up of random shapes and characters from a handful of languages.

This might have been done to ensure Quinharbor's location remains vague, and isn't grounded within any specific place or country on Earth.

As we drive down the highway, we see some protest signs attached to a chain link fence.

From top to bottom, left to right, these seem to say: (* denotes when I'm making an educated guess) - Down with Spacian oppression - Spacians GO BACK TO SPACE - TAKE YOUR WARS BACK TO SPACE* - NO MORE MS VIOLENCE - Benerit ignores Earthian lives - ENOUGH! END MS VIOLENCE NOW!

The one I want to bring special attention to is the one in the center, partially hidden behind the "Down with Spacian oppression" sign. At first I assumed it was, "Stop TAKING our lives for your own wealth," but when i looked closer I saw that the visible portion of that word is "-CKING." When I tried to assume what word it could be, truth be told I could only come up with:

STOP HACKING OUR LIVES FOR YOUR OWN WEALTH or, STOP FUCKING OUR LIVES FOR YOUR OWN WEALTH

You can decide which one you want to be true.

I really like how Guel is just fucking awful at this whole running a company thing. King you can't just bail on an important negotiation like this no wonder ur company is in freefall.

But that's just the kind of person he is. He's open hearted but short sighted, and doesn't think things through as much as he should. But he's trying, so we can appreciate him anyway (Although to be honest it's probably for the best he wasn't there.)

At the table with the Earthain Negotiators, we can see that there are two empty seats next to Miorine. One of them was meant for Guel, and the other was presumably for Kenanji.

Also, seeing as how it keeps being mentioned but isn't explained specifically, I think it's important to clarify what the doctor means when he talks about "The proxy wars you force onto us through war partitioning."

As best as I understand it, Delling and the Benerit Group have been exercising control over Earth (as well as providing a consistent market for their main export, weapon manufacturing) by instigating and arming conflicts across the planet along carefully partitioned political borders.

If Earthians are constantly fighting amongst themselves, they'll be unable to unite as a people against Spacians. (Remember, an impending interplanetary war is currently a major fear)

Remember what Rajan says to Miorine about Dellings motive: "And yet... even if he could control conflict through war partitioning, he never managed to achieve order [...] there was always some new enemy or rebellion."

It's important not to divorce Delling's motives from his beliefs. When Rajan says "he never managed to achieve order," or, "there was always some new enemy or rebellion," you have to ask yourself what "order" or an "enemy" means to a man who wholeheartedly believes that anyone beneath him should fully and unquestioningly submit to his will.

Quiet Zero only makes sense as a solution to a man who is too arrogant to realize that he is the disease which is causing the symptom. But we're not there yet. Let's continue.

When Norea is having her breakdown, she's drawing this picture before her pencil snaps. At a glance, it's easy to assume that she isn't drawing anything and is just scribbling nonsense, but if you look closely, she was drawing a spider being eaten by a venus flytrap (and then started scribbling over it.)

When 5lan looks through her notebook, we see some more. (Left) We see a more abstracted piece of a decaying mechanical clown head (Although it could be a broken down amusement park ride. The DOF lived near an abandoned water park prior to Plant Quetta), a spider with its prey in a web, and a decaying deer carcass.

(Right) And the landscape that 5lan wanted her to show him

Here we see the truth behind Norea's breakdown. Sophie was the only person who understood her, and now that she's dead, she’s all alone. They were supposed to always be together, but the only way for her to follow Sophie now is to die herself, and she's deathly afraid to die.

Sophie and Norea were opposites in how they coped with the disposability of their lives. Norea was afraid to die, and so she coped with it by drawing the death and decay she was constantly surrounded by. But Sophie coped by taking pride in it. She constantly sought out danger to prove to herself that she was alive. (Like in Episode 12 when she activates Permet Score 4: "My heart is hurting so badly...I can't... breathe... but I'm still alive!") In her mind, fighting for her life was what gave it meaning. She wasn't afraid to die, and in a way, she sought out Ericht so badly because she wanted to find someone strong enough to kill her. (Not in a suicidal way but in a putting it all on the line way.)

Norea pretended she was unafraid too, to keep up with Sophie, but she was always afraid. And now that Sophie is gone, she has nobody left. She has nothing to live for, but is too afraid to die. Her life is somehow even more pointless than it already was.

(Left) The moral of the story is that if you're depressed, the solution is some good soup.

(Right) Agh, I wish so badly we got some supplementary material about Chuchu and Nika. But that's a conversation for later.

When we meet up with Kenanji and Guel, they're talking to Sedo, who mentions that he's an "official refugee designated by the special reconstruction plan." His official description on the G Witch website explains a little more, stating that he "lives in a designated recovery plan area on Earth." It seems that there are consistent zones on the planet dedicated to war and infrastructure recovery.

We learn about the child rearing academy Grassley runs here as well, but we'll talk about that next episode, when it's meaning becomes more relevant. Oh, and, nobody asked but the shirt Guel is wearing here is the second shirt we see him wearing that has holes in it. (The first is the sweatshirt he wears in Episode 16.) So y'know. If you wanted to know.

So, here we learn that Shaddiq's birth name was "Jeru Ogul," and "because of that name, everyone at the Academy called him 'Prince.'"

At first I didn't what Kenanji meant by this at all, but after thinking about it and doing some research, I think I understand it now. He's called "Prince" because "Jeru" is short for "Jerusalem." This pun is actually localized from the original Japanese script too, as his name is not "Jeru" in Japanese, It's "Ieru" (イエル) as in, short for "Ierusaremu" (イェルサレム) (Jerusalem is not spoken with a J sound in Japanese because it's based on the original Hebrew pronunciation of the word, which is yerushalaim)

A remarkable child from Jerusalem? It's not a huge leap from that to calling him "Prince." (It's Jesus. It's a reference to Jesus Christ. Now that you know that you should go back and look at his character and the things he does. You'll be like, ooooohhhh, ohhh my goooodddd)

I think a lot about how Miorine immediately keeps cool and analyzes the situation logically, as opposed to Guel's righteous fury. I also like how Miorine knows Shaddiq well enough to immediately clock exactly how to catch him in the act and where he's keeping Sarius. (She's completely correct about all of it too.) She knows him better than anybody, after all.

As the fated moment begins, Eri activates a data storm around Quinharbor to take control of an Earthian tank. (Left) The error message displayed is:

CONTROL LOCKOUT: Control has been overridden due to effects of data storm space. ERROR CODE: [569]

Later, as Prospera retreats to grab Aerial's canon, we can see Miorine attempt to contact her (Which she quickly declines.) (Right)

TEXT: (Left) CODENAME: SOPHIE PULONE MS: LFRITH UR AFFILIATION: Ochs Earth Corporation

MS: LFRITH UR MODEL NO: EDM-GA-01 HEADHEIGHT: 21.2m WEIGHT: 75.9t BASE MS: GUNDAM LFRITH PRE-PRODUCTION MODEL (Ochs Earth Corporation) CHARACTERISTICS: Combat-specific unit intended for short-decisive combats, its output has been greatly increased even among the combat specific types. MAIN WEAPON: BEAM GATLING GUN / PHASED ARRAY CANON

(Right) CODENAME: NOREA DU NOC MS: LFRITH THORN AFFILIATION: Ochs Earth Corporation

MODEL NO: EDM-GA-02 HEADHEIGHT: 14.4m WEIGHT: 41.2t BASE MS: GUNDAM LFRITH PRE-PRODUCTION MODEL (Ochs Earth Corporation) CHARACTERISTICS: Support type unit intended for wide area control. Long arms and legs stabilize the center of gravity enabling advanced combat maneuvers. MAIN WEAPON: BEAM DIFFUSE GUN / PHASED ARRAY CANON

As Prospera breaks into the bunker holding the Lfriths, she pulls up Pilot data files (Tagged SO-3) on Sophie on Norea. Of critical importance here is that according to these files, "Sophie Pulone" and "Norea Du Noc" are referred to as the girls' codenames, not their real names. (Keep this in mind I'm gonna do a really cool thing next episode you're gonna be like ohh noooo) The girls are also affiliated specifically with Ochs Earth, which was supposed to have been defunct immediately after Vanadis.

Less Important but also worth mentioning is that Base Aerial was running "SYS Ver. E.S," a clever nod to Eri's initials, Ericht Samaya, but rebuild has changed that, instead running "SYS Ver. 2.0"

Also, we never get a clear look at it, but the board Bel and Feng were sitting in front of is labeled "ADJUSTMENT OF GUND PROSTHETIC LEG OPERATION." And seems to be data on a subsequent series of tests regarding the legs movement and calibration.

Okay, so, before we proceed, it's probably a good idea to clarify the current political reveals which are being made here. I think there are a lot of names being thrown around and due to the time constraints of the show, I don't think they were able to explain it as well as it could have been.

If you aren't interested, that's okay, you can just scroll past here, but I think it's important to try and understand it. I'll try and keep it as simple as possible: (This is also as best as I understand it, so ultimately take it with a grain of salt)

____________________________

The Space Assembly League is an administrative organization meant to mediate political problems and maintain peace within space. While the Benerit Group is an exceedingly powerful corporation, it's still a corporation, not a governmental institution. It has to, in theory, answer to the rules and regulations set by the League.

The problem is that the Benerit Group has become TOO powerful. Its reach and influence across space has long eclipsed even the League in terms of political power. At some point after Vanadis, the League's High Council (the people at the top of the organization, to be clear) realized this, and began to formulate a plan that would allow it to eventually suppress, and possibly even break up, the Benerit Group.

But the first issue to overcome was this: The Space Assembly League is a governmental institution, and is beholden to its own regulations. Without probable cause, it would be unable to justifiably interfere with the Benerit Group, who, by its own standards, were not openly violating the law.

So, in order to intervene with the Group, the council realized it needed to secretly contrive a reason to accuse the Group of threatening peace among the fronts, thereby giving the League the probable cause it needs to dissolve it.

(It's important to keep in mind that this plan was being conducted SPECIFICALLY by the League's High Council. By and large, the majority of the Space Assembly League DO NOT KNOW this is happening. Feng and Guston are official investigators FOR the league and discovered the conspiracy themselves during their investigation.)

This is where Ochs Earth comes in. The League obviously could not openly begin funding terrorist organizations, but it COULD secretly fund Ochs Earth, a MS Company that was very openly and publicly obliterated, and that everyone still believes to be defunct. An army of Gundams would be perfect to cause enough conflict to accuse the Group.

But here comes the second issue: How exactly do they plan to pull this off? It would be hard to organize and execute a plan of that scale without some kind of middle man. The League couldn't risk openly communicating with anti-Spacian organizations, it would be too risky.

Which is where Shaddiq comes into play. Whether or not he knew the League's intentions beforehand, he contacted them with his own plans to dissolve the group. He was the bridge that connected the League and Ochs Earth with the Dawn of Fold, and being so closely involved with the Group, he could know exactly when would be best to strike.

This eventually led to the Plant Quetta incident. Though the intention was to assassinate Delling, the unjust (and illegal) retribution of the Group upon Earthians after the fact seemed like the perfect cause needed for the League to act.

But that plan didn't work. Remember, the League is a Spacian Organization. And the unfortunate fact of the matter is that Spacians, by and large, do not care about Earthians. The unjust murder and torture of Earthians was not enough to turn public opinion (even within the league itself) far enough for the League to justify intervening.

So they tried again, with the attack on the school. Shaddiq focused on his side of the plan, working on dissolving the group from the inside by taking advantage of the imminent Presidential race, while the Ochs Earth witches stirred up more violence and discord within the Group, focusing on threatening the lives of Spacians instead, which leads us to where we are now.

____________________________

OKAY. damn. that was long. again, this is as best as I understand it, and I might be off the mark in some regards. Either way, I hope this cleared things up for you at least somewhat! Unless you scrolled past which, in that case, 1000 palms of death.

Here we see the GUND-Bit Canon firing at full output. It's the only time we see it do this, and even then we don't REALLY see it unfortunately. Still though, it should be noted that with one blast the cannon destroyed all the Lfriths in the bunker, and was so powerful it blasted THROUGH the bunker AND the mountain it was stationed in. Utterly terrifying.

But the truly tragic thing about this scene is what Prospera has done, and what that truly means. Think about what her actions have interrupted. It's not just that she's completely ruined the negotiations between Miorine and the Earthians. It's specifically how she managed to bridge that gap. With the GUND Prosthetic Legs.

This meeting was the ideals of Cardo Nabo and GUND finally being realized. GUND technology paving a way to a brighter future, finally bringing Earthians and Spacians together on equal ground. This was the future that GUND was going to save. When Prospera destroys the Lfriths, she calls Ochs Earth "The heinous sinners who trampled on GUND's ideals," but in this very moment, she has done the exact same. For the sake of Eri's future, she even struck down the future her family died trying to protect.

After the event, we see various news outlets covering the event.

Left: (From Extra Orbital Reports) BENERIT GROUP MS FIRE ON HOUSING COMPLEXES OF ANTI-SPACIAN GROUPS, WITH MANY CASUALTIES - WITH NO OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM BENERIT GROUP REGARDING ATTACKS, ITS UNCLEAR WHETHER SITUATION WILL BE RESOLVED

Middle: (From Planetary News Broadcast) [...] when Benerit MS responded to street protest by setting up roadblocks - [...] now turning into urban warfare as anti-Spacian side counterattacks with militarized mobile craft

Right: (Fom INTERPLANETARY NEWS NETWORK) IN RESPONSE TO BENERIT GROUP'S ATTACK, EARTH INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT LEADER DECLARES THEY WILL JOIN FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE - With Benerit forces dispersed as explosions take place throughout the city, fierce fighting develops between the two sides.

It seems like communications have fully broken down. The Earthians are more devoted to their demand for independence as ever. Things are even worse than before. The future has never looked worse.

When Suletta sees the news broadcast, she remembers what Ericht said to her about not being able to cling to either her or their mother anymore, but afterwards, we see a silent shot of her saying something else. It's impossible to know exactly what she's saying, (anime lip flap moment)

But personally, considering the context, and the syllables she's sounding out, to me I think she's saying "gomenasai" (I'm sorry)

And with that dour note, it seems like things can't get any worse. But, well, we all know if things can't get worse, they will.

>> Episode 20: The End of Hope The Masterpost.

[lune-de-miel-au-paradis]

OC Nina Cerasus deep dive part 2.

Meet my OC from my Star-crossed story. (She is a young woman living in her early twenties on Naboo. The time period is before the Phantom Menace.) I already made a short list about her. This is a little more deeper and collected. I hope you enjoy knowing her and like her as much as I do. Sorry for any mistype or bad English this is not my first language. I made a mood board about how I imagine her, the pictures are from Pinterest.

have they / would they dye their hair? she is a natural dark chocolate brunette, maybe she would add some colorful highlights 

do they maintain eye contact when talking? definitely

what is their tell for lying? a small movement, she picks her right pinky finger.

do they have an accent? she speaks in Nabooan dialect, also, she has a raspy seductive voice. People often ask her if she has a sore throat. Sometimes she sounds out of breath because of her illness. 

what languages do they speak? basic, binari (droid), kenari, 

what kind of music do they listen to? alternative/ acoustic/classic piano, also I think she would like Lana del Rey, Hozier and Mitski

describe them in one word. What could happen to make them the opposite? Abandoned. / Stay by.

do they have any ghosts? yes, her mom died, her dad left, and Maul broke her heart 

what is their worst fear? left alone, die alone, being forgotten

what is a secret they do not tell anyone? she has a few:

That her relationship was with Maul (in my Star-crossed fic)  

She was there when her mom died. 

She was the one who unveiled her fathers frauds and thefts and sent him to jail. It's her revenge. 

what motto do they live by? Ad astra per aspera. - Through hardships to the stars.

if they were a famous figure, who would they be? she was inspired by many characters from movies or books, also from my own life, but if I have to say some concrete examples it would be Amal Clooney's and Dakota Johnson's dressing style, a lot of inpo comes from Ellie Saab and Zuhair Murad gowns. And Sofia Bush's voice.

Also she got her name from my highscool bff called Nina. (She passed away a few years ago sadly due to a car accident.) So it's like a memorial thing to name my oc of her. A few of her personality traits, her freckles and silly moments also given to my character that remind me of my friend. And the green eyes my oc has is coming from me.

personality: the constant fear of being abandoned, having trust issues and the feeling of never being good enough. And she is trying to be the best version of herself by working hard and passionately. She fears to show out her real emotions or build connections, especially romantic ones. 

what great moment shaped them to be who they are? Have they lived through the moment yet? 

discovering her heart disease

when her mom got sick her dad left them and made his own family

Maul choose revenge over her and left in the Phantom Menace, she thinks he just left and used her, she never knew he was the sith assassin till my Heavenbound fic

her grandma’s first accident, then her hospital rest time

Wolffe’s love changed her, healed her and made her trust him and believe in love

what is their fatal flaw? fear of abandonment and trust issues makes her make bad decisions

how do they feel about jewelry? painted nails? she likes celestial themed or rare, personalized dainty jewelry

she gets her nails done soft almond shapes, and always decorated with stars and moons and use sparkly nail polish

what kind of art are they? astrophile as a hobby, art deco as a style, romanticism as paintings and mythological in sculptures and a femme fatale archetype in movies/novels

do they play a sport? weekly pilates lessons and dancing in clubs

do they have a speech impairment? how would that translate across paper? she is well spoken, and intelligent. Also her voice is raspy but in a seductive way.

what could you do to betray their trust? lying 

what makes them smile? acts of kindness and gentleness, paying attention to her little things, also the starry sky, and her loved ones

if you had to choose something to make them go all john wick, who would it be? to protect her loved ones

do they swear? in what language? yes in basic mostly

how comfortable do they feel around strangers? she tries to seem calm and collected being in charge of the conversation, but she usually assesses and judges their gestures and researches their back intentions

are they extraverted or introverted? introverted 

do they stand straight? what is their posture like? straight and hard like a ballerina's posture

what is their sleep schedule like? when she has time after work on mini power naps on rare occasions, she’s more insomniac workaholic

would they consciously invade someone else's body space? even a stranger's? always holds a decent distance, except when she flirts

how do they feel about contact with other people? do they flinch? she doesn’t like touchy people and only hugs her loved ones

are they the first to hug? never (exception if when she hugs Maul)

what would make them kill / stop them from killing? her morals, she wouldn’t hurt anyone on purpose and she avoids physical harm

how do they smile? do they have dimples? yes she has smaller dimples, and in her apples and on her chin, and it makes her diastema visible

what about their teeth -- braces? sharp teeth? dentures? yellow teeth? what about spots? hers are white and straight but she has diastema (a big space between her two front teeth)

how do they get others' attention? clear their throat? punch them? clears her throat,

do they talk with their hands? sometimes

what is their final goal? building her home, having a family and feeling safe

how would they describe happiness? being with the people she can trust and love, under the bright starry night admiring the comets

what is their biggest conflict? it doesn't need to be big for everyone else, only for them. 

she needs to learn to let others in and be open for love

it’s hard for her to understand that Wolffe is loves her and doesn’t have the intention to leave her

also letting go Maul, she never knew who he truly was and her ideal about him got shattered in my Heavenbound fic, she had a hard time learning the truth letting her feelings go and having a closure, after she meets him on Mandalore

how do they react to death? seel super sad, and isolate herself 

do they cry? how do they cry ? in silent tears, or sobbing and screaming in pain, but she is not a crybaby. she suppresses it and have “episodes” of panic attacks she refers to as“inner storms”

how do they react when someone else is crying? can they comfort a stranger? she tries to give some sort of solution or comfort, she is empathetic

how are they around pets? are they allergic to any? she is allergic to tooka cats, she loves wolves 

following up, do they have allergies? to some pollens, and tooka cats

do they take off their shoes going into a stranger's house? would they offer to do the dishes? she offers to help cleaning up

do they call strangers by their first name or title? she is a professional lawyer so she calls people on their title/ titled name or accost

how do they show fear? trying to hide it? shaking? etc. she tries to hide it and acting calm and collected, try to show out her fearlessness, her voice is tremble and she shake's lightly

what is their impact on other characters? she usually gives the impression of a beautiful, clever, well spoken intelligent women who is very elusive and cunning

how could any of these change by the end of the story? we can see her softened up and warm hearted true self in the end of Heavenbound, she heals her traumas from Starcrossed, lets go of her past and builds her own family. She learns to trust and she dies while she is defending others. 

Taglist: @hellhound5925 @cloneloverrrrr @stardustbee @the-chains-are-the-easy-part @firstofficerwiggles

let me know if you would like to be added!

[softpine]

is this the closest we’ve gotten to seeing brandi’s ideas for a post-apocalyptic story/au? my ass will happily wait for this treat and take these crumbs yes, please, and thank you 🍞🐜 (only if ur comfortable with sharing more!!)

aww no i'm sorry it's not the apocalypse au 😭 however that's always in the back of my mind and i have a document i keep adding ideas to whenever i think of things. i still plan on doing a mini story for that someday!! the thing i'm working on right now is just a silly one-off. but since you were so excited and nice i'll give you some spoilers hehe

edit: the fact i said "some" spoilers and then proceeded to basically share my whole outline for the first two chapters is such a brandi move. sorry i'm like this

i'm going the last of us route by not having typical back-from-the-dead zombies and instead they're infected humans, but in this case it's going to be something similar to mad cow disease in that it originates in livestock and can be transmitted to humans (i'm using allllllll of these words colloquially for brevity, just know this is a massive oversimplification), where it stays dormant until it's far too late to be treated because the brain has already been compromised. the first symptoms are confusion, then problems with emotional regulation, dementia, and finally violence & insatiable hunger. however, these people don't possess inhuman strength or speed, though it may seem that way because they're working with unlimited adrenaline, so they're not slowed down by pain or fear. but you have a fighting chance! and any way that you can kill a normal human, you can also kill an infected person. it just might take longer. essentially i want it to be grounded in reality, mimicking the way a real disease spreads and mutates rather than going fully into video game-y horror (i love that stuff too, but it's not the story i feel like telling in a post-covid world lol. i'm much more interested in seeing how humans can survive and rebuild in the face of unimaginable chaos and tragedy!). the other important thing to note is that the disease doesn't have a 100% transmission rate. it's the same as if you had the flu and coughed in 100 people's faces, only a fraction of them would actually get sick. so if you get bitten by someone with the disease, it's not 100% certain you will be infected. so there is no singular special immune person, it's just a matter of chance & your immune system.

in the early days, this mysterious illness is only happening in remote areas with low human populations. meat that's been properly cooked & pasteurized dairy can't transmit the disease, so people in cities are generally safe, but improper handling of food, poor working conditions, factory farm employees, traveling, etc. all contribute to the spread of disease. though the illness can't be treated, it's easy to contain in the beginning. patients are restrained/sedated when they become violent and eventually they die (once the brain is completely taken by infection, the body dies too). however as the number of infected people grows, it becomes harder to hold everyone in basic hospitals. sanatoriums start popping up to study the disease and keep it quarantined. this is around the time where the story actually starts.

mikaela was a pediatric nurse at the hospital, but she was moved to one of these sanatoriums a few months ago. however, she's 20 weeks pregnant (with sadie) and she's nervous about continuing to work in a high risk environment. she asks to be moved back, but the hospital denies her request. that's how she knows shit is really hitting the fan. she warns everyone she cares about that something big is happening, but that's not how the disease is being reported on by the media, so no one really takes her seriously. and then the big outbreak happens.

there's a whole backstory to that but i'll skip it for now fjskjds the relevant part is that mikaela escapes unharmed and returns home to gather her family up. danny, casper (home from college for thanksgiving break), and asa (spent the weekend with his dad) are already there. mikaela is scared to stay there because it's a farm; they have cows, chickens, pigs, etc. and they still don't know exactly how the disease is transmitted. so she loads everyone into casper's truck (there's less space, but it's better for off-roading). on the way out, asa opens all the gates so the animals can have a chance at living even though he knows it's probably not a good idea. they desperately try to get a hold of caroline and beth, but the phone lines are dead, so they leave a note saying they've gone to their shared vacation cabin up north.

ummm and this is extremely long already but we haven't even gotten to the interesting part yet so.... they make it half way to the cabin before night falls. they don't want to run out of gas at night (and it's late fall, so pretty cold). so they stop in an area that's completely free of people. asa says he knows how to make a fire so they won't waste gas running the car for heat. casper goes with him for protection (he's buff college casper, not scrawny teenage casper fjksjd) to find wood. danny doesn't think they have anything to worry about because asa spends his days in the wilderness already, and he assumes mikaela is just being overly cautious because she's pregnant. so he lets them go.

okay so casper and asa stumble upon a small, seemingly unoccupied hunting cabin. they think this will be perfect to stay in for the night. but when they open the door, they see a horrifying sight: a man sitting in complete darkness, chewing on a freshly dead deer. the man lunges at them, managing to grab asa and bite his thumb clean off along with a chunk of his palm, before casper tackles him to the ground. he manages to immobilize him, but he's badly bitten on the neck in the process. it takes all his strength to just hold the man down, let alone fight back, so asa knows he has to do something. he finds a rifle in a bag that the man must've been carrying earlier, before the sickness set in, and he tries to shoot him in the head with it, but since he's never even held a gun before, he misses and it grazes casper's arm. he has to shoot two more times before he hits his target and the man stops moving. buuuut the sound of all the gunshots has attracted many others; they can hear them approaching in the distance. casper is in no state to move, already starting to bleed out from the wound on his neck (the accidental gunshot certainly didn't help), so asa does the only thing he can do; he leaves the gun with casper and starts yelling to attract the hoard's attention while he runs away from the cabin. he hopes danny and mikaela have heard the gunshots too and will find casper. he leads the infected further into the woods. on instinct, he tries to climb a tree to escape, but his right hand is effectively useless and he's in way too much pain to attempt it. he thinks he'll most likely die here, until he hears a distinctly human, non-infected voice shouting at him to follow his voice .... and that's where i'll leave it :D

[sabo-has-my-heart]

500 Followers Failed Fic 24

A Law Hanahaki fic that also didn't work out

Eyes wide, Law stumbled back, still staring in disbelief and horror at the petals in his hand. It wasn’t supposed to be real, a myth, it was supposed to be a story told to get people to confess their feelings! In an instant, Law was rushing forward and tearing through his medical books for anything that might give him an answer. Diagnoses, medical conditions, medical terminology and basic medical knowledge even! There had to be a logical answer or a cure maybe? When his collection of medical knowledge ran out he rushed to the control room. If he didn’t have anything on it, he’d go to the nearest large port and find something. Telling his crew to head for the nearest large city, Law continued to flip through his texts, ignoring whatever questions his crew had. He wouldn’t tell them about this, he couldn’t tell them about this! He was their strong, confident captain; he was a cold hearted pirate and the surgeon of death. He was Trafalgar D. Water Law! He didn’t get sick like most people, he didn’t fall in love like most people, and he certainly didn’t come down with mythological illnesses. Hurrying back to his office, Law accidentally bumped into you, his textbook dropping, your own book falling as well.

“Y/n-ya, I didn’t see you there, what are you doing?” Law asked, finding himself unable to not ask. He knew that what he was dealing with was related to you, he’d noticed his feelings for you a few months ago, but he had other things that he needed to worry about first. Looking down, his hand stopped inches from your book, the words that he was both most interested and currently most feared plastered across its pages.

“Oh, uh, sorry Law. I was just reading a silly book from my childhood. I uh, I know things like this don’t exist, I just-”

“I need to borrow this.” Law said, cutting you off as he snatched the well worn book up. You couldn’t help but look at your captain in confusion, head cocked to the side. What would your captain, what would Trafalgar Law, need with a silly children’s book? Still, you nodded, the young man rushing off before you even had the chance to ask. 

Law leaned back in his chair, still staring at the words on the page. Confess, surgery, or death. Those were his options and he hated all of them. Confessing to you would… no, no he couldn’t. Surgery? His memories of you erased and being forced to tell the crew? No, that was worse. Death? There were so many times in his life that he’d expected to die. In Flavence, of White Lead Disease, escaping Doflamingo when he was 13, numerous times in the 11 years leading up to Sabaody, but from a fictitious disease? Now? He was getting closer to taking out Doflamingo, no, he couldn’t die yet either. More of the flora was forced up his throat, another reminder of his predicament, as if he hadn’t gotten enough of those while looking over the book. The petals joining what looked like at least 2 dozen others in a drawer. He’d dispose of them on the next island, where none of the crew would see.

[dadsbongos]

Insert Coin - Chapter 3.d / Series Masterlist

“It could be awkward for the others to see me leaving your cottage,” Hajime spoke in the silence after Monokuma’s morning announcement, “The last thing we want is for someone to make… assumptions about us.”

“Just don’t let it come off awkward,” (Y/n) giggled as she pulled on her shoes, “It’s easy!”

“I don’t see how ‘just don't’ is a valid way of avoiding awkwardness…”

“Nobody can make fun of you if they don’t know what you’re doing wrong,” the girl stood, hand on the doorknob of her cottage, “In other words, if you’re confident, people won’t poke holes in what you’re doing! I’ve seen people walk into movies without getting tickets because they were just super confident. Look like you know what you’re doing and people will leave you alone,” she pulled the door open, letting Hajime out first, “Except Hiyoko.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Hajime hesitated as he walked off, but his posture suggested an allusion of bullheadedness unmatched by even Kazuichi. And, just as he’d desired, nobody approached him with teasing remarks or questions as he went to his own cottage to change. He could’ve done so while (Y/n) was changing in the bathroom, but apparently, her furniture was especially distracting - locking him in place on her bed.

Upon entering the dining hall, (Y/n) was struck into stunned silence. Her eyes widening in shock at the scene before her - Akane was wailing over the possible upcoming death of Nekomaru, Ibuki was mindlessly nodding along to any rude thing Hiyoko said, and Nagito… Nagito wasn’t even there.

Approaching Sonia, (Y/n) quirked a brow as she gestured to the group, “You know what their deal is?”

Shaking her head, the princess crossed his arms as she stared over her peers sadly, “Mikan said they feel warm, well, besides the obvious… ailments.”

“(Y/n)...” a loud groan came from behind the pair, both turning to see a paler-than-usual, sweaty, miserable Nagito stumbling over to them, “You look so disgusting today! So irrevocably horrific I can’t stand it, I hate that I have to see you! My day was perfect until I saw you!”

“Nagito, what the hell?” Hajime spat from the doorway, brows furrowed at the luck's rudeness, “She’s been nothing but nice to you this entire time- "

“What if he’s sick too?”

“Huh?”

“I feel fine!”

“Look at Akane and Ibuki,” (Y/n) pat her friend’s shoulder, she was ever so grateful for Hajime stepping in even though it probably wasn’t necessary, “they’re acting totally different from usual. It probably wouldn’t be much of a stretch to say Nagito was affected as well,” she placed a hand over the sickly boy’s forehead, “He’s warm too. He was warm yesterday.”

“No, I wasn’t!” Nagito’s breath grew ragged, sweating profusely in (Y/n)’s grasp, “I’m perfectly fine! Don’t touch me! I’d rather die than let you touch me!”

His eyes widened before rolling back, spittle flying from his mouth as he fell back - landing on the dining hall floor with a harsh ‘thud’. Rushing down to his side, (Y/n) took up the convulsing boy’s head and cradled it, looking to the Ultimate Nurse for guidance when loud giggling interrupted the group.

Monokuma held his little conniving paws in front of his mouth, clearly finding enjoyment out of the group’s hazy confusion, “Oh, dear! It seems that some of your friends have caught the Despair Disease!” at the group’s continued confusion, he huffed, forcing on a charisma of television’s finest host, “Surprise! It's your next motive! Ibuki has the Gullible Disease, Akane has the Coward Disease, and Nagito has the Liar Disease!" he gave a last few giggles and a warning of it being contagious before disappearing.

“Hajime, lift Nagito with me,” (Y/n) instructed, taking up the unconscious boy’s body as carefully as she could while speaking to the group, “Mikan, there’s a hospital on the third island, right?”

"R-r-right, we could c-care for them th-there," Mikan nodded.

As the group headed out, some straying farther away than others in fear of catching the Despair Disease, (Y/n) thought back to the things Nagito had said to her. It was silly, especially in a scenario such as theirs - but she couldn’t help but be transfixed on what he meant behind his lies.

~~

Once everyone had been settled in the hospital and the communication device was being worked on by Kazuichi, (Y/n) found herself in a difficult situation. Jammed between two friends she cared for deeply.

“Hajime, you can’t be serious right now. He has the Liar’s Disease.”

“(Y/n)’s exactly wrong. She’s too stupid to figure it out.”

“He said he wanted me gone.”

“Hajime,” she muttered, taking the bridge of her nose between forefinger and thumb, “What do you think Liar’s Disease means?”

“It still hurt,” Hajime crossed his arms before turning towards the door, “I’m going to find Mikan…”

“Ask her to do another check-up on Nagito when she has the chance, please? He’s doing worse than the others and I’m not sure why,” (Y/n) had an inkling, but she shouldn’t spill secrets so openly.

A mere nod and Hajime was walking out, Nagito smiling as he spoke, “You’ve been such a nuisance this entire time. I need a better caretaker.”

It took a brief mental translation before (Y/n)’s heart was warming, “Oh, how sweet, I’m glad to be of service.”

“I really do hate your face, it’s hideous.”

“Never thought I’d take that as a compliment but there’s a first for everything, right?”

Upon Mikan’s entrance to the room she glanced between the patient and caretaker, her fingers racking together as she stepped towards Nagito’s IV, “H-how has he b-been doing?”

“Not well, he’s been talking about being extremely hot and keeps saying he feels great.”

“I…” Nagito’s eyes fluttered, coughing as he spoke, “I feel… amazing… my vision is perfectly clear too, how incredible… so hot…”

“There’s spare blankets in the storage room, correct? I can grab some,” (Y/n) rose from her seat as Mikan gingerly took the boy’s temperature.

Hospitals sickened her deeply. The scent of sterilization and the shiny linoleum floors sent shivers down her spine at something so macabre. Lying in the beds where others have died didn’t exactly sound like good motivation for healing. This hospital was barely different - grime in the grouts and dirt collecting on surfaces not touched in however long the building had been here. Not that it helped.

If anything, it was only more bizarre and discombobulating fashioned as an abandoned hospital than a lively one. And she tried to avoid the disturbing scene playing behind plexiglass beside her in the hall best she could.

Fuyuhiko and (Y/n) arrived at the storage room synchronistically, giving each other a stare before shaking themselves out of their respective trances and entering the small, dimly lit room.

The blond spared a glance to the peacekeeper, “How’s uh- " he grimaced, hating the man attached to the name he was about to spew, “How’s Nagito?”

“Not well,” (Y/n) took out two folded blankets before handing one to Fuyuhiko, “Mikan’s checking up on him right now. He’s been looking worse than the others, I’ve noticed - it’s a little worrying. What about Akane?”

Fuyuhiko’s face fell at the reminder of his patient, “Louder than what I’m used to from her,” he held up the blanket in his grasp, “She’s soaked through two of these fuckin’ things already.”

“Oh, that’s unfortunate,” (Y/n) muttered sympathetically, patting Fuyuhiko’s back, “Good luck with all that, eh? I’ll be with Nagito if you need any help,” her chest ached at the blond’s new eyepatch, “Make sure you take of yourself, alright?”

Flustered, Fuyuhiko looked away from the girl, “I’ll be fine.”

“Glad to hear it, but, if you ever need help - we’re all here for you.”

“I didn’t come to sing kumbaya in the storage closet,” the short boy snarked before stalking off.

“Fair,” (Y/n) sighed, largely to herself, before following his example and heading back to Nagito’s room.

By the time she’d arrived, Nagito was already fast asleep with Mikan nervously watching over him - switching between his body and his vitals. The poor nurse jumping when (Y/n)’s voice suddenly peeked out in the silence - asking if she was clear to lay the blanket over their patient.

“Ah!” Mikan calmed down once she saw who it was, a hand coming up and over her chest, “(Y/n)! Y-you sca-scared me…”

“Sorry,” the girl chuckled, hoping to release the awkward tension, “Am I though? Good to put down the blanket? I don’t wanna screw with anything.”

“You-you’ll be good… just be c-careful of his l-left arm…” Mikan pointed to the IVs attached to Nagito.

Nodding, the peacekeeper carefully laid the blanket over the shivering boy’s body, tucking it where she deemed necessary. Pity plundered her poor pattering heart at the distressed furrow in his brows. She sat at one of the stools around the Ultimate Luck’s bedside, taking his right hand and brushing her thumb over the bony knuckles.

She didn’t think Despair Disease would work so heavily with his cancer and dementia. It was worse than his luck cycle, it was God pointing and laughing at a young man who had been delivered pain merely for existing.

“He sh-should be fine for n-now,” Mikan nodded to herself, still checking Nagito's vitals, “He’ll be out fo-for a while… if an-anything like th-that happens, let me know!” even her exclamations sounded so timid in her soft voice.

“In seconds,” (Y/n) confirmed, still focused on the ill boy trapped in his hospital bed, just before the nurse left she called to her, “Hey, Mikan? Thank you. It’s admirable how quickly you stepped up to do this, I’m sure the others feel the same too.”

“It’s n-nothing, really…” Mikan smiled softly to herself despite the dismissal, a light blush festering over her cheeks, “B-but thank you!”

[bedbellyandbeyond]

Unexpected Visitor

(Story Post)

“Oh. Hello.” Nathan came home to a bit of a surprise. After coming home from a meeting with Korsgaard, he opened the door to find Jeffrey in his kitchen eating a bowl of cereal. He looked up and smiled to Nathan. “Oh, hey! What’s up?” Jeffrey asked. “What’s up to you first. What are…you doing here?” Nathan asked. Jeffrey shrugged. “Ya know, just hanging out with Wano.” “Ah.” Nathan felt a chill. “And where is Wano?” “I think he just finished up in the shower,” Jeffrey said. “Water stopped running.” “…How long have you been here?” “Hm, I got here… Maybe at noon-ish?” Jeffrey answered. Nathan just went quiet. He carried the twins in with him and set them down in the living room play pen before going and calling up the stairs. “Wano?” The Eclulan called back from the bathroom. “Yeah?” “I’m home! Can you come down please?” “‘Kay.” “Make sure you’re wearing clothes!” “‘Kay!”

Nathan went and grabbed some water from the fridge while he waited. He watched Jeffrey intently, but the young man just kept eating his cereal, oblivious to Nathan’s stare. Wano came down with boxers and a T-shirt on, with a towel around his neck. “Welcome home.” “Uh, yeah, thanks. Um, so Jeffrey’s here,” Nathan said. Wano looked at Jeffrey, who waved to him, and then looked back to Nathan. “Yes.” “What is he doing here?” Nathan asked. “He asked if he could come over,” Wano said. “I said yes.” Nathan blinked. “And you didn’t think to ask me, maybe?” Wano tilted his head. “Why?” “Uh…” Nathan motioned around. “Because it’s my house?” Wano frowned. “Are you mad? I don’t understand. Jeffrey is a friend to us, no?” “He… He is, but it’s still my house,” Nathan said. “I’d like to know when other people are in my house when I’m not here. You need to ask me first.” “It’s okay, Nathan. I’m heading out anyway,” Jeffrey said, after drinking his cereal milk. It left him with a milkstache. “Ollie’ll probably claim Ben as his own if I don’t get back soon…” He got up and made his way to the door to get his shoes on, but Wano intercepted him. “You have milk on your lip,” Wano stated. “Oh?” Jeffrey smiled and leaned into him, puckering his lips. “Can you get it off for me?” “Um, okay.” Wano took a finger and wiped the milk from Jeffrey’s face then wiped his hand on his own shirt. “There, you are clean.” Jeffrey chuckled and then moved on to get his shoes. “You’re so silly…” Nathan was just watching them, completely frozen. Wano waited and watched as Jeffrey finished getting ready to leave. “You will text me when you are home?” “Yeah, ‘course,” Jeffrey said, grinning. He straightened up and took Wano’s cheeks, pulling him down into a quick kiss. “I’ll see you soon, handsome.” Nathan was screaming internally. “Do you want to walk me to the bus stop?” Jeffrey asked. “Sure,” Wano said, without a second thought. “No!” Nathan cut in. Then he managed his volume. “Sorry, no. Wano can’t go too far from the house. The bus stop is too far.” “Ah. Right…” Wano angrily kicked his leg out with the ankle bracelet. “Aw, okay.” Jeffrey smiled and waved. “I’m off, then. Bye!” “Bye,” Wano said. Jeffrey walked out and Wano waited at the door until Jeffrey turned the corner towards the bus. Nathan sat down at the kitchen counter with his arms crossed. “Could you close the door, please?” Wano did as told and then wandered over. “You look angry in your face. Was your meeting bad?” “No.” Nathan straightened up. “So, you and Jeffrey are serious now?” “Serious about what?” Wano asked. “You’re in a relationship,” Nathan said. He remembered he had to be plain with the Eclulan. “Wano, did you have sex with Jeffrey today in my house?” Wano shrugged. “Yes.” Nathan groaned. “Seriously?! At least tell me you’re using protection…” “Protection? From who?” Wano asked. “Not Jeffrey. I am much stronger than him.” “No, condoms! Contraceptives!” Nathan said. “Safe sex!” “I don’t understand any of that,” Wano asked. “Are you kidding—did you put anything on your penis to protect yourselves from illness or pregnancy?” Nathan tried one more time. “No. None of that makes sense,” Wano asked. “Why would we do that?” “Um, maybe so that you don’t get a sexually transmitted illness and you don’t get pregnant!” Nathan exclaimed. Wano shrugged. “But I cannot get your human diseases and I cannot get pregnant.” “But Jeffrey can!” Nathan said. “Yes, is that not the point of sex?” Wano asked. “Not the diseases, but to reproduce?” Nathan wanted to shout but he held it in and just turned around to try and calm down. Wano frowned. “I have not seen you so angry before… Do you need food? Are you hungry?” “No, Wano,” Nathan gripped his kitchen counter with white knuckles. “…I am trying so hard to figure out a way for you to realise why what you’re doing with Jeffrey right now is wrong.” “I don’t understand. Do you not like Jeffrey?” Wano asked. “I thought you were friends.” “I…” Nathan grit his teeth. “I like Jeffrey. We are…group friends. But, Jeffrey is immature and what you two are doing right now is so blind of the consequences. You’re about to be deported off the planet!” “I am very aware of that,” Wano said, defensively. Nathan turned back around. “Then why are you trying to make a baby?!” “It is because I am leaving that I want to,” Wano said. “My planet is dangerous… I might not come back. I would like Jeffrey to carry my legacy so my life was not without meaning.” Nathan wrinkled his nose. It sounded noble in a way but still rubbed him the wrong way. “Wano, that is probably the most selfish thing I have ever heard in my life.” Wano was taken aback. “What? Why?” “Legacy? Are you kidding me?” Nathan said. “If you expect to die, the last thing you should do is try to leave behind a fatherless child!” “They would not be fatherless, they would have Jeffrey,” Wano said. “Unless you are trying to say Jeffrey is a mother, but I learned that's not very ‘progressive’ or something.” Nathan growled in frustration. “You know what I meant! Creating a child just to walk out on them is so irresponsible! You need to give me a much better reason than that! But there isn't one because that's bullshit!” Wano frowned. “You don't understand… I want to be a father. This could be my last chance.” “Wano, you're deportation is only two months away,” Nathan said. “Even if you did get Jeffrey pregnant right now, you won't be here when they're born. And return applications can take a long time. You might not be able to even see the baby for a few years. You'd be more of a sperm donor than a father.” Wano shook his head. “You think that. I don't care what you think.” Nathan had enough. “Whether you see it that way or not, I'm not going to facilitate this in my home. You can't have Jeffrey over here anymore. You didn't have permission in the first place.” Wano stepped right up to Nathan and loomed over him. “What are you going to do? You can't stop me.” Nathan wasn't going to take this. He straightened up and growled, glaring down at Wano. When he tried to speak though, he could only emit a loud thunderous snarl. Wano immediately backed off and looked genuinely scared. “Nathan?” Nathan realised suddenly that something was wrong. Wano had a couple inches on him. It shouldn't have been possible for him to look down on the Eclulan and yet there he stood looming a good foot over the frightened alien. The twins in their pen nearby had both turned, Grace starting to howl and Gabriel letting out little bear cries as well. “The wolf…” Wano emitted. “Nathan, you're big…” Nathan looked at his own hands and saw the fur grown straight out all over, and his claws curled out longer than he'd ever seen. Panicked, he turned about looking for something reflective. He found a new pot and looked into the polished surface. In his reflection he didn't recognise himself. His hair had grown over his face, his ears had elongated past his head with fur all over and all his teeth had pointed. He was looking into the face of the wolf for the first time. Wano was doing his best not to cower in fear. He kept eye contact with Nathan while he tried to figure out what to do. “Nathan… Are you okay? I am…sorry…” Nathan didn't want to scare Wano but any time he talked it just came out as growls and snarls. He waved his hands to try and communicate for Wano not to worry and then he pointed to his phone on the counter which he couldn’t pick up himself now without scratching or crushing. “You want me to call?” Wano asked. “Dax? APID? The doctor?” Nathan just nodded. Any of them would do so long as they could help. “I'll call Dax.” Wano picked up the phone and dialled. In the meantime, Nathan tried sitting so he could calm down. He yipped uncomfortable as sitting initially cause him some pain. He realised he suddenly had a tail and he'd sat right down on it. Trying again, he leaned forward and sat down without crushing anything. It didn't make sense. It was daytime, he was still part man, and he was conscious. Nothing like this had ever happened before and he was scared. He put his face in his hands and took deep breaths, just trying to calm down. After a few minutes, Wano put down the phone and came around the kitchen counter to where Nathan sat. He looked him over and then touched his shoulder. “Nathan? Are you okay?” Nathan tensed up at Wano's touch but when he pulled his hands from his face, they were normal again. Or rather, relatively normal, he still had his permanent claws but they were back down to a manageable size, same as his canine teeth. He touched his face and felt the smooth hairless skin. He heaved a sigh and looked up to his friend. “Wano…” The Eclulan smiled. “You are alright. You are not wolf.” “I don't know what happened...” Nathan was shaking and he couldn't help tearing up. “What was that?” “Dax called the doctors to see you,” Wano informed him. “I am sorry… If I did not anger you…” Nathan shook his head. “No, I…” He tried to steady his breathing. “There's a monster in me…” Wano could tell words weren't helping his friend at all but he didn't want to see him like this. He got down on his knees and pulled him into a hug. Nathan shuddered and wrapped his arms around Wano's torso. He just wanted to calm down and get back to normal. “You are nice guy, not monster,” Wano said gently. “Thanks…” Nathan managed. The twins were still exchanging animal cries and Nathan started getting up to check on them. “Nathan, no. Just relax,” Wano said. “I'll take care of them. You rest.” Nathan sighed but agreed. “Okay, I... Maybe I'll take a shower...” “Yes, sounds good,” Wano encouraged. Nathan did so and went upstairs to shower. The sensation of the water running over him helped him feel more attached to his body, something transformation often disconnected for him. He thought he'd always wanted to be conscious as the wolf, not to lose all control, and yet this sudden transformation had made him feel betrayed. He wondered what Syd or even Korsgaard would have to say about it. He only imagined they'd want to recreate it. APID would want it studied. But he had no idea how it happened or what triggered it. He didn't want to think it was his emotions because the idea of being irate and becoming a dangerous monster scared him the most. The last thing he wanted was to endanger his friends and family. He just wanted to forget it happened at all.

[madlilsongbird]

Watching The Amazing Spidernan movies so that I’m all caught up before No Way Home. Will add my thoughts as I have them. Note I am not some big Spider-Man fan nor have I read the comics so if my thoughts sound kinda stupid they probably are.

First movie:

That’s a good trick with the broom. Making a mental note as we speak.

Actually seeing Peter say goodbye to his parents is horrible and I would like to never experience it again

SALLY FIELD IS AUNT MAY?! Why does this one have the good cast? (not good as in better but good as in more well known)

The sexual tension in “good morning flash…good morning Peter” (this is a joke I’m not shipping him with his bully)

Jesus roid rage much?

Shut your blinds! I don’t know who would be looking in your window at this exact moment but close them anyway!

First careful, you never know who is watching what you search (when did I become this person)

Second…curt connors is ableist.

Poor Rodrigo Guevara

Oh internalised ableism. And that is the only comment I will make going forward because my disabilities do not include limb difference and I dont want to overstep.

Stop following the man, you are not subtle…wait wtf how’d he do that?!

This is where he gets his powers right?

Okay but when would 5 men make that much of a fuss over a woman that only 1 of them seems to know?

Same. (This is in reference to smashing the alarm clock)

Oh my god is it really necessary to show all the different kinds of spider bites.

Actually just going back to the internalised ableism thing…he is allowed to feel whatever type of way about his own disability that is his right. But insinuating that all disabled people are weak and wanting to breed out the weakness is eugenics and just kinda gross. THIS is the final comment I will make on the matter.

No but seriously he is way more aggressive than regular teen boy aggressive so either he’s on something or he’s overcompensating for something

The way he looks at him doe (again all jokes am not shipping flash and Peter)

Why is this so awkward? And not like teens navigating a crush awkward just genuinely awkward. I feel no chemistry between them.

I like the song, it’s an interesting choice for this scene but I like it.

Stop does uncle Ben die now? Like I know uncle Ben dies at some point but I was really kinda hoping he just wouldn’t in this iteration. I was going for a ninth doctor moment “just this once everybody lives”

MOTHERFUCKER

God Sally is incredible

Don’t show me moments of Flash being human I might accidentally start shipping them for real and that simply can’t happen.

Oooh he’s a fashion designer

I just really enjoy how he takes the piss out of his victims? Arrests?

Is Gwen aware that the school nurse can’t cure everything? Both legally and just like generally doesn’t have the knowledge to cure everything. She suggests going to the nurse a lot.

This family gives me bad vibes

This is a long movie…it’s not even half way through

Well that’s one way to tell her

NOT GEORGE FOYET!

I think with what I remember of SpiderTobey and what I know of SpiderTom, Andrews Spider-Man is definitely better with the people he’s rescuing. Smoother, good bedside manner.

His sons name is Jack. Why does that make me angry?

So he’s just not gonna rescue the other people hanging off the bridge?

It’s almost poetic that the son of the man tried to stop him the first time will be the one to stop him now

Now how is he getting enough power in the sewer

No means no Peter

Does she die in this one or the next one? I don’t imagine her dying will help captain stacey see him as a good guy

Stan 🥺

This movie is exhausting and I don’t know if I mean that in a good way or a bad way.

MoThEr HuBbArD aRe YoU sErIoUs

He managed to get three whole words out and you didn’t think to ease up on the trigger a little to hear what those words might be?

She’s very clever and I will be sad to see her go

That wasn’t her scream. Or it was but from a different take.

Foyet about to be coming in clutch

I’m going to cry.

He’s so ugly. Some lizards are really cute but lizard + human, kinda gross looking.

Well shit. I didn’t know that happened. I guess what I said about him being upset with Peter about Gwen is irrelevant. Unless it isn’t, like if you believe in the afterlife, imagine how pissed he’s gonna be when Gwen arrives.

He finally got the eggs 🥺

As someone who’s boyfriend at the time didn’t go to her fathers funeral I feel ya Gwen. I mean I don’t care now but at the time it sucked.

Dr Connors was just in a silly goofy mood. He seems to show genuine care for the boy (this is mostly sarcasm).

Second movie

Oh we’re going back to peters dad.

How do they have access to a private jet?

Miss Honey is badass

Ngl I’m actually quite relieved they both died before the plane crashed. Stil devastating though.

Okay so this is first up on the list of potential mystery villains in No Way Home…he looks like a tool.

HeLLo PeDeStRiAnS

He really just let Spider-Man put his hand on his tongue. Sir do you know where his hand has been? Not to mention just in general the feeling of spandex on your tongue. I feel ill.

No respect for the proper care of plutonium.

Please don’t ever say “come to daddy” again 😂

I’m kinda sad Jamie Fox becomes a villain, his character seems kinda sweet so far from the 2 seconds I’ve seen of him

You mean to tell me he missed his girlfriend’s fathers funeral AND her valedictorian speech?!

Stan x2 🥺

Because you can’t lose me you’re going to lose me? 😂

I love her jacket

Why are they still pretending like she doesn’t know?

I may have spoken to soon about Max

See I would be speeding up daddy’s death if he told me he’d passed down a genetic disease and just decided not to tell me.

Friendship.

Okay max is still a little bit nutty but you gotta feel bad for the guy. He must’ve been so scared.

Don’t smile that’s not cute, if he was a regular boy you’d file a restraining order.

Oh I see Spider-Man is gonna fight him which will make him turn and become the “bad guy” whether he will actually be a bad guy is still unknown.

This scene is actually kinda just making me angry (the time square scene)

Cops suck man. Peter was talking him down just fine.

Did nobody teach these people not to touch metal when there’s electricity about.

Interesting that I didn’t pick up any chemistry from them in the first movie weren’t they an actual couple for a while?

Another good song with an interesting placement

I’m sorry did the caller ID not say Mary Parker? How was it Harry on the phone?

Run Gwen!

This version of Harry is kinda creepy I’m sure the actor is swell but the character is terrifying. Original version Harry was swell whereas the actor is…

“Maybe everyone has a part of themselves they hide” gives him the eye

This movies shorter or at least it feels shorter

An excellent show of what happens when you tell a rich daddy’s boy no for the first time.

This makes me very sad. She’s so excited for the possibility of Oxford.

As much as Harry disturbs me, I want him to burn his entire team.

His daddy really did love him!

I think it’s mostly his eyes, his behaviour can be explained by trauma (why I find Harry creepy)

Okay most of his behaviour. The taking joy in killing people that’s just him being nutty and not a trauma response.

This is fucked up. And where is Peter? he is off chasing a girl who has broken up with him twice now.

PLANES NEED THE POWER!

I really like SpiderAndrew, the movies are fine but as a character I thoroughly enjoy him

Sorcerers apprentice who?

Captain Stacy can’t blame him! She’s clearly stubborn as hell and her own free woman

I quite literally stopped breathing (in reference to the almost plane crash)

Is this why they made it Gwen and not MJ so that he could kill her and be an actual bad guy? From my little knowledge of the comics and what I’ve seen from the movies Harry would never hurt MJ so it had to be someone else important to Peter but not super important to him for him to a real bad guy

I like that Harry actually looks like a goblin.

What was the disease he’s supposed to have?

This poor family. I know I said they gave me bad vibes in the first movie but nobody deserves this.

He looks less like a tool with his suit on…but only slightly less

Baby you better get back behind that baracade!

Nobody talk to me I’m very emotional. This child looks very much like a magical mix of all 3 of my brothers put together and seeing him stand there so brave but so scared is doing something to me.

Final thoughts:

So I think SpiderAndrew might be a close second favourite for me. I like the relationships of the original the most, the comedy of the mcu version the most but this one was like a nice in between. Im a little disappointed there won’t be a third not cos I think I would have enjoyed it just cos the original had 3 movies, the mcu version will have at least 3 movies and this one is left out with 2. Don’t think I would have loved Shailene Woodley as MJ though so I dunno. I think the only thing I would have wanted from a third movie is to know who fedora guy is…and for Peter and May to acknowledge that they both know that he is Spider-Man. Apart from that it was fine and I now feel fully prepared for No Way Home.

[blaydiud]

[ 𝖑𝖔𝖌 ] - 07.   𝖕𝖑𝖆𝖌𝖚𝖊.

Although it still ran rampant, oftentimes it seemed like the plague had reached a more manageable point- at least within what Faerghus considered manageable. The country had always struggled with diseases and outbreaks- its bustling capital, Fhirdiad, was nothing more than a dirty nest of rats and illness with raw filth in its streets before Cornelia was admitted as the new court mage and began aiding King Lambert in improving the city’s sanitary problems. Yet this one felt different than the ailments that disturbed the north country of Fódlan, it felt like a product of magic rather than nature’s punishment for living in filth. One much similar to the country’s last documented plague that killed its queen. 

Needless to say, the air was one of pure grief and fear. Entire families wiped, widows and orphans raising in numbers, homeless searching for shelter after theirs were destroyed, the injured and elderly on the brink of death from the shortage of available healers.

It was “manageable”, but the prince couldn’t help but feel like he failed spectacularly at his own job. Helping and aiding his people, ensuring their safety and wellbeing- no matter what he did, nothing worked. He didn’t want to kill those infected in hopes that there may be a way to save them, yet he didn’t want to leave the healthy and innocent to perish. All in all, he felt like he disappointed much more than just his friends or family- rather, he disappointed his country. He wouldn’t be surprised if his own friends and allies began to turn their backs on him after witnessing such poor performance as a ruler-to-be. Such failure from a prince and house leader.

He wanted to be left alone for a bit. It wasn’t the best action, he was well aware- being alone with nothing but his own thoughts was an invitation to unwelcome ideas and voices, but at the same time he felt too ashamed to face others. Icy eyes that usually scouted the area from above were now directed to the found, instead. The blue cape that often blazed brightly under the sunlight was droopy and hidden in the shadows, close to the walls. The confident and mildly fast pace of his boots were now quiet and slow.

The blond hair that was compared to the sun’s mighty rays was obscured by clouds, his posture akin to a withering flower.

Fate had it out for him however, when one of the monastery’s messengers approached. Someone came to visit.

At first Dimitri frowned in confusion, after all who would want to visit him like that? Perhaps Rodrigue, to check in on him? Margrave Gautier? But the plague hadn’t reached the north. Count Galatea? Maybe to report losses and request aid. Maybe Cornelia, to give a detailed report of the disease and discuss what could be done to avoid this type of thing from happening in the future. Of course, all diplomatic matters- although usually directed to the Regent King rather than to him.

What he wasn’t expecting however, was to be sitting inside his room, a tray with boiling hot chamomile tea on the wooden table, two cups, right in front of his uncle- who eyed the room with an arched brow.

He hadn’t seen any signs in the monastery that would suggest the arrival of his uncle. No trumpets, no kingdom soldiers roaming the area, not even the flying units that always accompanied the royal carriages. It was quiet and simple, almost as if his uncle himself didn’t want it to be known that he was here. Maybe that was done on purpose- Rufus was unpredictable as ever. Sometimes he wanted to be received with parties and glamour, other times he’d much rather sneak around the halls like a weasel. He ever chose to meet Dimitri in the prince’s own quarters, rather than reserve a proper meeting room.

“Not bad. Nice non-existent decoration, by the way. Heheh.” A joke that didn’t land, received with silence. Dimitri’s gaze never really met his uncle’s eyes, instead focusing on his cravat, his beard, the teacups or his own hands sitting atop his lap, fiddling nervously with the hem of his jacket.

Dimitri wasn’t sure what to expect from this- it was the first time Rufus had visited him in the monastery ever since the prince left Faerghus for his studies. Did the man come here to scold him? Lecture him? Just hang out?  It was hard to tell. Shouldn’t Rufus be at Fhirdiad, acting on his duties and helping to make sure the city was still safe? The prince’s memories went to the response letter Rufus sent after the Church’s complaints about Dimitri’s behaviour in the ball- and the Regent King actively supported his nephew. But now, looking at the older man’s face, Dimitri wasn’t so sure if he came here to support and comfort him...or to yell at him for his incompetence. Or both, or neither.

Another moment of silence, nothing but their quiet breaths and idle noise from outside the room to fill up the void. Old blues lines the details on the room’s stone and wood walls, before stopping at the sight of Dimitri’s form.

“So? How are you holding up?” Rufus tried to strike conversation again, still not touching the steaming cup of tea, nor the sweet buns on a nearby plate. They were all brought from the Kingdom, all things done exactly the way Dimitri would like. The chamomile tea from the palace’s storehouse- the same kind that Lambert would drink in his afternoons, the buns prepared by the royal bakery- with marshmallow fillings, chewy and soft. Their smell was familiar enough for the prince’s own poor nose to catch on their scents, the smell of nostalgia dulled but present.

The intention behind these was still gray to the prince, however.. He reached out for his teacup, gauntlets long discarded, sitting atop his bed. “I feel well.”

The regent’s expression was neutral, unconvinced. With slow blinks, one would think he’s much older than his early fifties. His long blond mane was clearly messier than usual, some white hairs poking out. The blue of his eyes was lined by dark circles, his posture looked both at ease and crumbling down. Stress, perhaps. Exhaustion, unhappiness. Things that seemed alien for the king that would throw feasts and extravagant parties nearly every month- at least from others’ point of view. The Rufus people saw occupying the throne, the Rufus people used to suspect had a hand in the late king’s murder, the Rufus called sleazy and useless.

Dimitri’s silly, rebel uncle and his only family. Two completely different people.

    “I…” The prince started again, unsure. “...I feel like I did a poor job.” 

“Poor job at what?” The older man’s brows furrowed slightly, confused. “Got bad grades?”

    “No, my grades are fine.” At least for now, they looked good enough. “I performed poorly in aiding the people in the Kingdom. So much was happening, there was so much to be done and I could not-”

“You’re not a mage, boy. Not a healer, either.” And you’re not king yet. “There was nothing for you to do there.” Rufus’ words were quick and sharp, spoken seemingly without a care. 

As if they didn’t hurt at all, a simple fact. Dimitri deflated, visibly. Noticing that his words were perhaps too harsh, Rufus scratched his bearded cheek, suddenly uncomfortable. “You- train to be a knight, don’t you? So. Unless you walked out there to kill those diseased people, then there wasn’t anything you could do. Maybe stand there and grant the people comfort, but just that.” The more the regent king tried to do damage control, the more salt was added to the prince’s wounds.

Rufus frowned, huffing. Uncle was always horrible at this, Dimitri thought. After a pause that seemed infinite, the older man tried to speak once more.

“What I mean is that-...ugh, sorry boy but there’s no other way to put it. I’d much rather have you doing nothing and being healthy than you running around the diseased and ending up like one too.” Typical of the older Blaiddyd. Dance around the issue in hopes of sugarcoating or changing the subject, only to drop a bucket of cold water- of truth, unceremoniously like that. Dimitri, unamused, finally met Rufus’ own.

    “You want me to just stand aside and watch them fall one by one? You want me to watch them die and do nothing about it? What kind of ruler does that to his people?” Icy eyes grew a flame of their own.

“That’s not it at all- listen to my words, Dimitri. It is dangerous out there, even now. As much as I hate this damned building it’ll be better for literally everyone if you stay here.” Both voices were quickly rising in volume- once a quiet and controlled argument, now a potential shouting match. 

The prince’s hands were flat against the table, as if he were close to abruptly standing up- to prove a point. Or to just leave the room and be by himself, even though he knew well that Rufus would follow. “I will not sit on my hands and watch the people of Faerghus sink in a sea of torment! Even if I cannot perform healing spells, I wish to at the very least be there for them! So that they know they have someone to rely on!” 

“You’ll die out there if you do that! Leave that task to me-”

    “-You’re doing nothing about it! Nothing!” 

Although slightly taken aback by the shout, it was unclear if the prince’s words hurt Rufus. “Dimitri, think. I’m not telling you to sit and eat imported steak from Almyra next to a dying villager, what I’m saying is that there’s no use for you to roam around in a situation that’s unsafe and that you cannot directly interfere in! Lances and swords can only do so much, you know that better than me!” Rufus’ voice wasn’t a shout of anger, but rather a steady- and loud, command. He was defining an ultimatum for Dimitri to back down and obey. “It’s unfortunate that you had no means or ways to have a say in what happened but there’s no use in moping about it all day.”

The prince seemed to be stuck between curling in on himself and glaring back at his uncle with defiance. 

Rufus glared back with a similar fire in his eyes. “Don’t make that face at me.” The regent leaned in the chair, sighing. He finally reached for the tea- still warm, but not as much as before. Dimitri was still silent, immobile in the opposing chair. His emotions were a swirl of anger, grief, outrage and sadness- he felt justified in his points, yet felt that his outburst was horribly childish. Also unfit for a prince, as well as for someone his age.

Old, greyed azures roamed the room once more before focusing on one of the lances leaning against the wall. The lance Dimitri took with him when he left for Garreg Mach, a steel so smooth and clear that the lance was almost white in color with a charming blue decorating its hilt and the middle of its blade.

His vision wasn’t great as it used to be, but he could make out stains around its blade. Blood was a stubborn little thing, sometimes. The hilt was straight and seemed intact, save for subtle indents from what could only be Dimitri’s hands grasping it. Rufus had always supported having the prince learn how to fight, but he couldn’t help but get a grim feeling from seeing the weapon. From knowing that Dimitri was training to kill. It was all expected, but never easy to swallow. 

“Fhirdiad was a little nightmare. No disease, but the people were scared. Panicking.” The regent started casually, slightly tired. He took a sip of the tea, then finally grabbed one of the buns and took a bite. 

    “Did you do something about it, at least? Did you talk to them?” With words sharper than a knife, Dimitri reached out for his own teacup but stopped midway. Depending on Rufus’ answer, the cup could shatter in his hold- which would be quite unfortunate.

“Me? Dimitri, they hate me. If I stepped out of that balcony to say a ‘good morning’ Goddess knows what they’d throw at me in rage.” The older man stated with similar, ominous indifference. It filled the prince with a dull anger, but not enough to justify another fit.

Always avoiding anything that could prove to be inconvenient to you, uncle. The prince wanted to find it disgusting, outrageous, but his heart didn’t allow it. This was family.

Dimitri decided to fully reach for his cup, despite unfavorable feelings brewing in his chest. “I could have gone to Fhirdiad and offered moral support to its citizens, in that case. The lack of my presence is unforgivable. I will be perceived as unreliable-” 

Rufus’ hand came down on the chair’s wooden handle, not hard enough to shatter it but enough for the furniture to audibly creak. “The roads to Fhirdiad were crawling with the diseased! Our pegasus and wyvern knights were tasked with transporting medical equipment and food, and the mages skilled enough to cast a Warp spell were too busy trying to find a cure! Even that pink haired witch was too busy! There was no safe way for you to return, Dimitri!” The regent’s gaze was piercing, making full contact with Dimitri’s icy blues- which still burned in defiance, but the flame was weak. “Can’t you see that as much as the people need their ruler, no level headed person in Faerghus wants another royal funeral? You doing nothing and staying alive- nobody will hold this against you, dammit! Nobody here wants you dead!”

Rufus ran his hands through his hair, an ashy golden mane naturally messy that went past his shoulders. “Me included. So stop having those stupid ideas already.” The outburst from before was reduced to a meek, shaky mumble. With his face obscured from view, it was hard to make out his gaze- if it was one of anger, of exhaustion, or one of tears.

It tore a shuddered breath out of the prince. “...my apologies.” If this answer was genuine or performative, it was unclear. “But I...have to disagree with you.”

The regent simply shook his head and leaned back on the chair again, frowning at how one of the wooden handles was now slightly crooked from his fit. It seemed like another moment of silence, except Rufus knew that any time now Dimitri would say something. From the trembling of his lips and how his gaze zipped around aimlessly. Working up the courage to speak, rehearsing words in his brain.

It came out with an audible sob and a wobbly voice that the regent was most definitely not expecting.

    “I just don’t want to be like this…” Helpless, useless. “To stand there...with nothing to do- while people-” Die around me. “I-”

    “I don’t want it again.” The sentence was slightly mangled. “To have no control on the- the situation and-”

“Dimitri.”

    “People keep dying around me and I can’t do anything about it!”

“Dimitri-”

    “I’m ne- ever enough to make it stop! It's unfair! Unfair that I get to breathe all day doing nothing and they-”

“Silence!” The prince yielded, but his sorrow blazed on.

“...Sometimes it happens. And there’s nothing you can do about it. Call it fate or the Goddess throwing a fit or whatever, but there’s...there are things we can’t stop.” At first unsure, Rufus reached for the prince’s forearm, rubbing it gently.

“Being royalty, having a crest- none of these things matter sometimes. You’re just a person. And some things are just out of your power for...being a person like any other. Doesn’t make you weak, but...well, it happens. You’re helpless as I am.”

Dimitri replied with silence.

“And if any of your friends give you crap for it, then guess what? They’re not friends.” Rufus still didn’t know who Dimitri was friends with- except from the ones he’d spot on the palace sometimes. The youngest boy from Duke Fraldarius, the one from Margrave Gautier, and one of Count Galatea’s little girls. They seemed like good kids, at least. “And if that happens then- whatever! I’m here! It’s not much but I’m here!”

What could only be interpreted as a meek chuckle was all Dimitri reacted with. A funny thing for Rufus to say, considering how sometimes he didn’t bother to read his letters and never came to visit. He was too tired to confront the man about it however- so he let it pass. Rufus would probably forget about it later, anyway.

“Also can you- ugh, wait.” The regent produced a handkerchief and handed it out. “I know it’s rough and you’re sad but wipe your face? It’s three quarters water at this point. Gross as hell.” The Blaiddyds never looked pretty while crying. Always a red-faced wet mess, yet the redness and the tears made the blue of their eyes jump out exponentially. 

    “Language, uncle.” Dimitri grabbed the offered handkerchief- it held the emblem of Itha, not of the Royal banner- and pressed it against his face. He didn’t care, blew his nose on it despite an audible sound of disgust from the regent and handed it back.

“...you can keep it.” Rufus’ grimace was enough to finally make the prince laugh softly. A real laugh.

Dimitri sighed, feeling a headache coming in- one of exhaustion, the typical ones after a cry. Instead of looking down, however, he stared at the now cold cup of tea and the mostly untouched buns. “I just do not wish for my people, allies and friends to perceive me as… weak and unreliable. That is all.” I don’t want to be abandoned again.

The older man chuckled. “It’s funny to hear you speaking all fancy after all of that.” Dimitri simply huffed.

“Prince or not, you’re still a kid. Kids aren’t perfect, I bet that princess from Adrestia also has her slip ups as well as the little guy from Leicester you threw hands with. If people cast you aside for a mistake out of your power, then they’re the ones in the wrong for putting on impossible expectations.” Dimitri noddled idly, although he didn’t seem to be fully on board. Stubborn little thing, just like his dad, Rufus thought.

    “...I wish to support Faerghus still, however. Even if I could not do much when the disease was out of control...now that everything has reached a more stable point, I would like to help the people in every way I can.”

“And that’s alright. Just don’t skip school and be a good boy.”

     “Uncle.”

“What? You can’t be in two places at the same time, Mitya.” That baby nickname was enough to calm the prince down slightly. It was only ever used by his family nowadays- as his friends have all but stopped calling him anything other than Your Highness. It felt a bit embarrassing at times, as if Rufus were babying him, but it also brought comfort.

     “I- okay, I yield!” The prince crossed his arms, huffing out. “You are impossible, truly. Quite frustrating, at times.”

“Yadda yadda.” Rufus smirked, sipping on the now cold tea. ”Sheesh, this thing tastes like leaf water when it’s cold. Bad leaf water.”

     “That is more or less what tea is composed of.” Dimitri grabbed one of the sweet buns, taking a bit and munching with visible glee once he noticed that the pastries were bakes to fit his preferences.

“Finally, dammit! I thought you wouldn’t eat any of these! Well, you could at least spare one to give to a pretty girl you like.” Rufus winked and grabbed another pastry, powdered sugar lining his golden beard.

Dimitri made noises of disapproval, but preferred to just continue eating. Although his heart was still heavy with uncertainty and disappointment in himself, he felt that at least at that very moment, he could afford to occupy himself with something- or someone else. Other than death and suffering, other than despair. 

He’d brace himself for a difficult path, now. One of painful recovery and unfortunate difficulties.

[lunaticpuppetmaster]

  My contribute for Konoha Simps server collab! 

Trying to do both drabble and an art was a poor decidion as i am a lil bit late. 

Special Thanks to @pfreadsandwrites who beta-readed this drabble!

Title: Lost and Found.

Pairing: Kiba Inuzuka x OC (Tsubasa Yuki)

Summary: Everyone knows that everything you lose will end up in your soulmates possesions. Some people go crazy trying to find their destined one with practically no information. Tsubasa was never interested in finding hers and there is a chance she would never be able to.

Warnings: Angst, mentions of death, hurt/comfort

Word count: 6907

   When the first symptoms of the family curse appeared, Tsubasa already knew she was doomed. The sickness was rare and there wasn’t much information about it in the Yuki clan library even before the genocide, while after it…  well, no information survived. To be honest she did not have much hope at the beginning when her ice-natured chakra just only started to act like a parasite, eating her body and breaking thin bones.

But her sensei had. Mei had always been protective of her pupils, acting like a big sister even after the trio passed the chunin exam. So, when the worst happened, she used all her resources in order to save one of them. Unfortunately, even Kirigakure medics famous for their body knowledge were unsuccessful. The only hope was the best medic alive, Tsunade-hime herself.

Tsubasa did not know how she convinced Tsunade to help or what she promised to her (probably rare Kiri herbs), but the sannin agreed to work on her case. She didn’t promise a cure. To the girl’s pleasure, unlike her sensei, the 5th hokage was rational and she stated right from the start that the chances of recovery were very low and more likely she would just extend the Yuki girl’s agony. It was hurtful, but honest. Tsubasa always respected honesty… and her sensei. She had no other choice, but to promise Mei that she will fight till the end even though she did not want to.

“Maybe you will find your soulmate there,”- said Mei before her departure.

Mei was one of those people who always wanted to find their soulmate, however that was not the reason why she said it. She appreciated different manifestations of love: between friends, parental, sisterly and etc. She also knew that Tsubasa was a pessimist and even the love of people who were close to her was not enough to restore her will to live. At least if she were deeply in love with her soulmate, Mei hoped that Tsubasa could finally find the strength to fight.

Soulmates were always a bone of contention between different social groups: commoners, nobility and shinobi. Especially the last one. Missions and loyalty towards the village must be a number one priority for a ninja. But with soulmates everything became much harder.

Still even the biggest soulmate deniers tried their best to ‘lose things’. Even though little was known about soulmates nature, over the years people were able to learn a couple of useful things:

1 - Every item you lose will end up in your soulmate’s possessions.

2 - You cannot send a letter or any kind of writing this way.

3 - You cannot just throw away a random thing in the air or leave it intentionally on a park bench. So, you must really lose the thing to make it reach your soulmate.

The world was never peaceful. Neither for commoners nor shinobi, so desire to help for so called “true one” was understandable. People tried to tie various useful items with slim strings to their clothes like meds and water. When it came to shinobi they usually tied small scrolls to their bags or jackets hoping that during fights the thread would be cut or ripped and the item lost. Such scrolls were usually filled with food, kunais or ninja pills. Supplies that suddenly appeared managed to save some shinobi on the verge of death more than once. So even soulmate deniers had an opinion that it was practical to help the soulmate and very rude to ignore it. Help for help, life for life, nothing more. Tsubasa was one such person.

Of course, every skilled shinobi could tell from which village the lost item appeared.

Yuki’s soulmate for example was from Konoha. Her teammate Hiroto recognized a specific plant in a found ninja pill. So, she had some chances to run into him during her stay.

But Tsubasa did not want a soulmate. She did not need some stranger. She wanted to stay in Kiri and spend her last days with people she loved with all her heart and soul. Hadn’t she suffered enough? It didn’t look like it.

This was how she ended up in Konoha; or rather in a spare room of Yamanaka-hime’s house. Although Tsunade made efforts, in Yuki’s opinion, she clearly did not have an intention to heal her, but to collect information about how the disease proceeds under various factors, in order to save other unfortunate ones… Tsubasa could tell it from her students. Tsunade put her under the care of somewhat inexperienced newbies, ones who could crawl into her head and feel the patient’s condition themselves. Tsubasa did not blame her for that. She would be happy if her death could help someone. The girl rather felt sorry for distracting Ino from her more important patients. The hime herself was cheerful and sunny person, but in moments that required professionalism she could turn cold and focused with the flick of a finger. “She would be a perfect clan leader one day,” Tsubasa thought.

To be honest Yamanaka’s jutsu was useful for more than just therapy. When they first met, Yuki just simply let Ino read her mind and see her past. It was much faster and easier, plus all the secret information she knew as an ANBU was sealed. In order to get it, they would have had to use much stronger and more traumatic jutsu (and of course torture). Moreover, she was going to die soon, so did it really matter how many people knew her story?

Though when Tsubasa saw the girl’s blank face after reading her mind, she felt guilty. The blonde stayed silent for a few seconds before giving her a hug. She did not need words to say that she will do her best.

    Ino was easy to befriend. She also was good at distracting from negative thoughts. Between her regular Tsunade checkups and preparations for missions (It was important to monitor the development of the disease in the field, and all missions would be related to information gathering about the Yuki clan) they were chatting, watching movies and sometimes working in the flower shop. Thanks to Tsubasa’s honey-coloured hair most people mistook her as a distant relative of Yamanaka, so no one asked questions.

Once they ended up talking about soulmates. It started when Ino found some spilled ink on her carpet one day. Hime did not know much about her soulmate except he was really… an artistic type. Through the years she collected various brushes, pencils, erasers and doodles. Once she even found a whole sketchbook (unfortunately half torn)! But there was one thing that made her upset. He never “lost” anything to help her like the majority did.

“Maybe he is from a strict ninja family or a specific ANBU team”, she said with a sad smile.

If Ino’s soulmate was artistic, Tsubasa’s was… quite “special”. Because only a “special” person would end up losing a 6-kilo bag of dog food. Even now, after seven years Tsubasa sometimes wondered ‘how?’.. It was not a pen or a trinket which could be easily left on an academy desk, but a giant bag of dog food! No, he was a good soulmate who was “losing” supplies for her (that once saved her teammate’s life) unlike Ino’s, but still… Even when the blonde heard about it, she could not believe it and then started to laugh hysterically. After such silly small talks Tsubasa felt like she wasn’t fully alone in this foreign village. It almost felt like she had found a friend.

Unlike the other forced teammate.

Every village had a system of having at least 3 people in a team. Moreover, Tsubasa was suffering from her disease and Ino concentrated on helping her. They needed another member.

Tsubasa did not like him from the start. He was loud, narcissistic, clingy and insolent. The kunoichi was easily fed up with his behaviour. She spat out what exactly she thought of him to his face before going back to the Yamanaka estate. Only when she was alone in her room, she understood all her stupidity. She shouldn’t have acted so idiotic and lose her cool. It was essential for a ninja. She also understood why he was chosen among all of the shinobi. As a member of the Inuzuka clan he had a ninken who was already big enough to carry a man. It would be useful in case she became unconscious due to the illness. But she could not help it. A lot of bad things were going on in her life. She felt useless and helpless since she was banned from using her ice chakra. Mei also banned her from using anything that would hide her emotions. She thought that Tsubasa finally needed to learn how to speak and deal with new people. Babysitting was not helpful, so she wanted to try something more radical. Tsubasa understood, but understanding wasn’t enough to cope with the stress. Now she was sitting in the corner of her room shivering. Usually, she would take her father’s mask – the only thing left after his death- and put the cold material close to her forehead thinking what he would say or do. She couldn’t do it any longer. Some of her belongings and a mask were lost during a powerful chakra release at the beginning of the disease.

A few minutes passed before she started to feel better. A sudden knock on the door took her out of thoughts. Tsubasa went to open it thinking it would be Ino. Unfortunately, it was him. The cause for today’s bad mood and their third teammate – Kiba Inuzuka himself. She sighed and looked at him through the door, hiding most of her body behind it. The young man in front of her hesitated and looked a little bit strange or uncertain.

”Listen, I came here to apologise.“

Tsubasa raised her brow. Surely she should have been the one to apologise?. Plus, the boy looked like someone who would rather make a bunch of excuses and snap back than accept he was wrong.

“Well, I shouldn’t have invaded your personal space in the first place.” He scratched the back of his head and looked away. Judging by his behavior, the girl started to understand what actually made his behavior change.“And …uhm, Ino told me about your case so…”

“Showed you,” said Yuki her guess as a statement.

”She d-did not show me much!”

”That’s okay. I don’t mind and Ino knows that.”

“Anyway, I want to start on a clean slate. Here, take it. It’s a half mask and a bottle of blue paint so you can customize it with your clan symbol.”

”Actually…”

“I know that you are not allowed to use anything to hide your emotions, but it is a half mask and I made the holes for eyes bigger so your emotions will be perfectly visible. This is not technically breaking the rule and you will definitely feel better due to your um… well, habit. Just enjoy it, okay? I have to go now, bye!

“W-wait! I cannot…”

But the boy already left, forcing the girl to accept.

After that, though the relationship between the trio smoothed out, it was far from perfect. Tsubasa preferred to act more as a solo player despite her health condition, Kiba was still too loud and tried to act like the leader he never was and Ino … Ino tried not to go crazy in this whole mess called a team. However, overall, their missions were rather calm. Perhaps the three of them needed time to get used to each other before they could accept the others’ faults and learn to compromise. The tension completely disappeared at rest time, when tired teenagers passed time by talking to each other. Often they talked about soulmates. Someone was consulting with others about what would be more useful to seal in a tie-down scroll, the other one was looking through a travel bag for new supplies (or accidentally dropped useless things), another was thinking about loud who their soulmate might be. On one of such days, all of a sudden Tsubasa discovered earrings in a sealed scroll. They were simple and consisted of three deep blue feathers each. The girl looked at them in surprise, not knowing how to react. But, on the contrary, Ino reacted too happily.

“These are so cute! And they match your eye color! Quite a nice present for a soulmate that has never seen you.”

“This must have been a mistake.”

“It was in a scroll. How could this be a mistake? Looks like your soulmate really wishes to meet you and…”

“I don’t need a soulmate, Ino! Like, I don’t believe in perfect matches made by spiritual forces or some sort. I never wanted to have him in the first place! I have a dream to achieve, a family in Kiri. No way if I survive, I will leave it all behind because of some questionable romance! That’s ridiculous!”

Ino sighed and Kiba remained silent. The conversation came to an end. But not the attention from Tsubasa’s soulmate or their mission.

One of those days, when all sorts of cute things and sweets instead of standard ammunition began to show up in Tsubasa’s scrolls more and more, their group stumbled upon really strong opponents. The longer the battle continued the more obvious it became that they were not going to win. Unless Tsubasa broke the rule and used her clan’s abilities. Mei’s order, both as sensei and as Mizukage, always stood above many moral principles for Yuki, but now it was a completely different case. Neither Ino nor Kiba with the sweetest and bravest Akamaru should have been involved in this from the very beginning. They were not supposed to die or risk their lives because of some terminally ill girl from another village and a questionable contract between their Kages. They must live, survive and Tsubasa made up her mind. At first, she managed to eliminate a couple of ninjas and slightly injure the rest using the element of surprise. She was incredibly lucky, because the disoriented opponents were much easier to finish off for Kiba and Ino. Tsubasa by this moment had already lost her eyesight from the tension and saw the battlefield only as a set of white and light gray colors. She lost her breath and her strength to stand upright. But it was nothing compared to the pain that washed over her seconds later.

     The kunoichi screamed in pain as she felt blood filling her mouth and an ice crust covering her internal organs. She fell on the cold dusty ground, heart-rendering screams leaving her lips with the blood pulsing her temples, ice needles tearing the muscles of her arms and legs. It seemed like nothing existed except for the all-consuming pain. Through the wall of never-ending white noise, she heard the sounds of Ino’s commands and Akamaru’s frightened barking. This was the last thing she felt before passing out.

Tsubasa woke up with a heavy head and pain all over her body. She listened to her senses before opening her eyes… and it would have been better not to listen to them. Someone brazenly pressed her close to their body and sniffed into the ear. When she opened her eyes the girl immediately screamed. In general, it was a completely normal reaction when you find yourself half-dressed in the arms of an equally half-dressed man. Of course, given that she was half-asleep, her only response was a stream of unpleasant curses and swearing. At first Kiba, who was still sleepy, was happy that the girl woke up, but soon joined the exchange of curses until a joyful, but terribly tired Ino ran up to them, immediately trying to interrupt the catfight and change the topic. Kiba waved his hand resentfully and went off in an unknown direction. Ino stayed with Tsubasa alone.

“Sit down and drink this.”

“Okay, but can I ask you a question first? What the hell happened here?”

”Your disease went out of control. I could barely suppress it. This time it was… too strong. Not like before. When I was finally able to improve your condition, you were still unconscious, your temperature dropped to terribly low levels, and some ice crystals did not disappear. We didn’t risk taking you back to the village in such poor condition. At first, we tried to wrap you up warm, but that didn’t help. Your clothes were quickly soaked by the cold coming from you and it only aggravated your condition. Then we decided that we would warm you one by one with the heat of our bodies. Well, Akamaru too.

Tsubasa howled in embarrassment and Ino sighed.

“Don’t worry. I think Kiba understands what the situation looked like for you. Or he will understand. He is a hot-head, you know, and he needs some time to calm down. But he will.”

”Still, that doesn’t change the fact that I snapped at him twice for literally nothing, especially the last time when I should have said ‘thank you for trying to save my dumb ass’. I feel terrible.”

The blonde girl patted her dejected friend on the shoulder and then said, “ Drink the medicine or, I swear to God, you will regret that you woke up.

The group’s return journey took place in silence. Despite the fact that Tsubasa apologized to Kiba and he accepted the apology, the kunoichi was still tormented by her conscience. She needed to apologize to him properly. Stealing a glance at the still visible ice crystals on her hand, a thought flashed through her: “While I can still do it.”

Night is definitely a wonderful and mysterious time of the day. Too bad that not everyone can enjoy its beauty, but there are also some who would be glad to miss it. For example, some unfortunate souls from the Inuzuka clan. It just so happened that a heightened sense of smell was not the only animal trait some clan members shared. Heightened hearing, too. In battle it was somewhat useful while in everyday life - irritating. During the day, in a mixture of noises, it did not cause much discomfort, but at night, when all the sounds disappeared, a can kicked by a drunk felt like a hit in the head. It is not surprising that such “lucky” clan members often suffered from insomnia and generally lived in the rhythm of night owls, which was very difficult for the shinobi world, where everyone was entirely early birds.

So was Kiba. However, tonight it felt different. His day was active and the sounds on the street did not disturb him, still he could not sleep. It seemed that the whole atmosphere of the house became more and more oppressive with every second spent inside, and the inner desire to walk through the village at night became stronger with every minute. He just wanted to go outside and run. He did not know where, but somewhere, where it was important for him to be now. In the end, when he accepted the fact that he obviously would not sleep today, the young man called his faithful dog and quietly left the house. The night was calm and fresh from the recent rain. Perhaps even too much, but it did not bother Kiba. He gladly wandered through old village streets, breathing in deeply the cold night air until he found himself near the playground. Or better to say, found someone.

Tsubasa sat on the swing all hunched up, almost motionless like a statue, and although this time her face wasn’t hidden by a mask, but her honey hair, Kiba knew that the girl was clearly not radiating joy.

“May I sit?,” he asked. Tsubasa didn’t even flinch.

“Yes.”

Kiba looked at the girl. When they first met, she was strong, cold and impenetrable. A true warrior. But now things were different. As a shinobi, he was not afraid to die on the battlefield, surrounded by dead and, possibly, even rotting bodies. But seeing a person fade like this, when they were unable to do anything about their state, when they burned out like a candle, turning with every second into a pale copy of their former self is what really scared him. At first, he didn’t care much what would happen to Yuki, but now, when her life glimmered on a candle stub, saving her was important. Either she will survive, and he will get rid of animal all-consuming fear, or her pale face, disfigured by illness, in the tongues of the funeral flame will haunt him till the end of his days.

Akamaru rested his head on Tsubasa’s lap. Still lost in her heavy thoughts, Yuki let her hands go of the swing chain and started to mechanically stroke and scratch the ninken behind the ears.

”Hey Tsu, I know that you are that type of shinobi who tries to follow the code perfectly. But we are not made of steel. You are not made of steel. You are feeling bad and tired. It’s unlikely that I will hear something that Ino did not show me or did not hear from you. Sharing pain as a shinobi is hard, but it’s even harder to keep your cool when you are on the verge of being broken by your own emotions. Even though I talk too much, anything you tell me tonight will stay here, I promise. So, tell me what’s eating you.

”You’re right. I am tired. I am weak, although I’ve tried to prove myself otherwise for my whole goddamn life. Even when I felt bad and thought that everything was lost, I clung to a few good things that I had. What does not kill makes us stronger, and the world, even drowning in war and blood, is still too beautiful to give up, especially the little things that everyone forgets. That’s what my father taught me. My path has never been covered with rose petals. Well.., for most people, actually. Still, I didn’t stop fighting for the people I love. Only when the clan curse showed itself… I was really scared. I felt completely helpless. And after the recent events… Fuck all my experience, knowledge and even more ranks. I am useless. I… I must accept the truth. I will die soon Kiba and I do not want to die here.”

Her previously smooth and still voice started to crack. Her shoulders shivered slightly.

“You, Ino and your friends are wonderful people and in general I like Konoha, but it will never be my home, and you will never replace my family. I hate to break promises, but I really don’t want to keep the one I gave to sensei and friends. I just want to give up and go back to Kiri. I miss them so much and want to see them one last time. Besides there is also one thing that bothers me…”

Mei was not that wrong when she said that Tsubasa might fall in love in Konoha. She actually did, but not with the soulmate destined by the stars. She fell in love with an eccentric, slightly arrogant and silly boy who may have not really known her, but still tried to help. Simply because he did not lose faith in her or their team, because he acted friendly with her and could cheer her up even in her darkest moments. For the fact that he could knock on the window at one in the morning and invite her into the forest to look at the fireflies. Just like that. It wasn’t like love at first sight, or a long courtship. With each passing day her feelings grew stronger washing over her like waves. Unfortunately, there were few “BUTs” that Tsubasa could not ignore:

She was from another village and even though there were many bad things in the hidden Mist, she was not going to betray it or move anywhere. She promised herself to help Sensei make the village a better place, and she was not going to give up on her dream either. Kiba was also too loyal to his family and friends. He would never leave them for some Kirigakure girl.

Moreover, Tsubasa felt guilty about her soulmate. Yes, she never saw him, but that did not stop him from taking care of her and obviously dreaming about their meeting. It would be wrong just not to care about his feelings.

Most importantly, that applied to both Kiba and the unknown “true one” - she was dying. She was a weak sick girl who had a month left to live at best. Of course, she could confess her feelings to the boy next to her right now, feel loved and die with a drop of happiness… But was it fair for Kiba who would have to live with this burden until the end of his days? Definitely not. She couldn’t do that to him. That’s why she would rather stay silent, burn out from her feelings, because at least she would not let him suffer.

“I just don’t know what to do… I feel lost.”

She lifted her head, blue feathers of her earnings blowing in the wind. Her face was emotionless and her body calm, yet uncontrollable tears were streaming down her face.

The boy took her freezing hand and pulled her into a hug. Tsubasa bit her lip, burying her face in his shoulder and soaking his jacket with tears.

”You lost only because you gave up right away as soon as you found out about your diagnosis! Stop thinking about the fucking disease! Focus on something else! Not on the loved ones, since it causes you so much pain. Focus on your dreams! On your soulmate!”

“Why are you so obsessed with the idea of soulmates?”

“Why are you so disgusted with the idea itself?”

She let his hand go and exhaled. There was no trace of her emotional outburst except for her bloodshot eyes. Tsubasa grabbed the swing chains, thinking for a second.

“I do not believe in fairy tales about gods, who loved each other and were separated, that blessed all mortal couples with a secret connection, in revenge to the rest of the pantheon. Why did everyone suddenly start to think that it was a love connection? What if that bond means a strong friendship? And how can finding lost things help my soulmate find me or specifically, my body? The only variant I see is where you tattoo the coordinates on your hand and lose it in battle. An ‘excellent’ plan! Moreover, where are the guarantees that soulmate couples will be happy? Give me one example.”

”Ino’s parents are soulmates.”

Both of them suddenly turned silent.

”As far as I know, Mrs. Yamanaka did not even know our language when she arrived here. She was from another country, with completely different customs, still she risked going into the unknown. And I don’t know any stronger couple.”

“The way you talk about it… Your parents aren’t soulmates either, are they?”

He nodded.

”Don’t get me wrong, I love my mother. In fact, my father left when I was one year old, so she and my sister raised me. But… My mother is a very difficult person. As far as I can remember, it was always important for her to be the first and she never cared about the feelings of others. This is good for a warrior, but not for a family member. She could easily say things that will hurt you, including the ones she said on purpose, as a joke in order to please her ego. When you tried to talk to her about this and ask her to tone it down a little, she pretended to listen at first, but soon forgot about it. As for my father, he was not from our clan, not even from our village. He was a stranger and ended up being at the very bottom of the clan’s hierarchy. My sister said that he could stand a lot of things, but not the betrayal and disregard towards him from his once loved one. Of course, this was not the only reason he left. After that, looking at how Ino’s parents perfectly understand each other and always try to find a compromise, on how strong their union is… I want the same kind of family. Yes, I can act like my mother, be short tempered and impulsive. I think you noticed it when we first met. I admit I behaved horribly, but with people close to me, whom I don’t want to lose, I try to control myself and work on it.”

“That’s… amazing Kiba. And despite the fact that you mostly act like a jerk -” he snorted and a small smile formed on her lips- “I have to admit that after knowing you better, I have respect for you. You don’t try to please everyone. You give all of yourself and your warmth only to the ones that are close to you. Only to those who, in your opinion, deserve it, disregarding the rest. This is right. I share the same point of view. But since you really want to find your soulmate, have you ever thought that you might end up being the one to leave your home? Are you ready for such a sacrifice yourself?”

Kiba fell silent. At first it seemed that he was deep in thought, but in reality, everything was different. He was frightened and listened to the silence of the night trying to find out if someone was eavesdropping on them. For a moment, the girl even thought that he used ninjutsu to sniff out strangers and make sure that there were no one near them.

As white as a sheet, he took her hand and ‘wrote’ his answer on the inside of her palm with a finger:

“Yes”

She glanced at him. His actions spoke louder than words.

“Your father is dead, isn’t he?”

”Were you born in a clan or joined it later, you cannot leave it.”

”I understand. After all, in Kiri, a lot is happening inside our clans too.”

They both sat in uncomfortable silence.

“When you said that my parents are not soulmates, you also said “either”. So..?”

“You heard right. You know that before Terumi-sama, Kirigakure was overflowing with nepotism and bribery? Well, people were willing to do anything to move up the career ladder. My mother really wanted a higher position in ANBU, so she made my father fall in love with her and convinced him that she was his soulmate. As you understand, it was also important for my father to find ‘the true one’ but when he realized that he was fooled it was already too late. He comforted himself with the fact that he seemed to love my mother even without that spiritual bond, plus he loved me with all his heart and soul. But in fact, the love between my parents was one-sided… and because of the special treatment to the Yuki clan, my father was never at home. So… when you start looking for your destined one, please be careful, okay? I do not want the same fate for you or for anyone else.”

Okay, let’s change the topic” - he waved his hands in a playful defensive gesture “You mentioned that you have a dream. So, what kind of dream?”

“Well, you chose a bad one to distract me, because my dream is deeply connected with my family. You know about the genocide of the Yuki clan?”

“Mmm, sorry, to be honest, not really. Only that when the Uchiha clan was massacred, the elders whispered with each other that it could be the same case as it was with your clan, where it was the Kage’s order or some sort.”

“The Yuki clan was once considered to be one of the most powerful clans in the village of the Hidden Mist. And of course, quite dangerous, especially for the past Mizukage, or rather, for the one who controlled him. So, one night, the entire main branch was killed and the clan’s library burned down. The Yuki clan was officially made part of a lower caste. Some clan members managed to escape, while others were often sent on dangerous and suicidal missions. Now from the once large clan, only 30-40 people remain in Kiri, and most of them are elders and children. For comparison, grandfather Naoki had four children, the same age as my father, and only one daughter remained alive. As you know, my frightened and repressed clan avoided communicating with each other. In fact, in my childhood, it was as if the clan did not exist at all. Childhood in Kiri was not easy, but the other children at least had a clan, a large family that stood up for them. I wanted it too. I wanted to be a part of a clan and before my illness I dreamed of reviving the Yuki clan, regaining lost knowledge and finding all the relatives lost around the world, whom, as far as I heard, were not liked by both ninjas and civilians. But now after that illness… I must find every single Yuki alive to make sure that no one will be alone while fighting the family curse and that no one will go through the same pain as me, giving them a chance to be cured. And I will do it, no matter what… If I survive, of course…”

“It’s … A great dream to achieve-,” he scratched his head not knowing what to say- “And I am sure you will! Just don’t be so pessimistic! “

”I am realistic.”

“Pessimistic.”

“Realistic!”

“OK, OK!” he chuckled.“Looks like only realists like you, who talk about how bad and terrible everything will be, turn out to be chuunins.”

“What? Kiba, I don’t… urgh forget it! Arguing with you on any topic is simply useless when you are stubborn as a mule.”

“Said another mule!”

She laughed. Warmly and sincerely, for the first time this evening, and perhaps since they returned from that ill-fated mission.

”By the way, if your life in the hidden mist was so bad why do you hate the idea of moving to another place? Like here, to Konoha?”

“First of all, my life in Kiri is perfect now. Secondly, when people will learn that I am from the hidden mist they will hate me. The only thing that saves me now is that commoners think I am a distant relative of Ino.”

“Why do you think that?”

“You never heard why Kiri women are hated so much?”

“No.”

“Well let me tell you,” she grinned sinisterly. “One year, in our village, due to hunger, disease and war, there were practically no men left. Then the women decided to fill this gap by stealing men from other villages. But then they questioned themselves, how to transport healthy and adult shinobi without harming them? This is how the world-famous art of Kirigakure ANBU was born, thanks to which we can immobilize even the most powerful warrior,” she chuckled as a senbon she used in some missions appeared from nowhere, - “With the combination of many factors, but still. Well, those poor souls who ended up in Kiri … they essentially had no choice, but to marry ladies there if they wanted to live.”

“Are you joking?!”

“I’m not! In fact, my great-grandfather was kidnapped from the village hidden in the Stone. So, be careful Inuzuka Kiba! Who knows, maybe my illness is just a part of a secret mission and I’m actually here to pick up suitable candidates… And you might end up being one of them! You may turn out to be a good third husband for me, you know?”

He laughed.

“Oh really? Well, I would die to see how you would try to steal me with such an amazing guard as Akamaru!”

“Oh darling,” she grinned and hugged the huge white dog,” I would find a way to make that adorable boy my partner in crime! “

Akamaru happily barked in agreement and both teenagers burst into laughter, almost falling off the swing.

“By the way,” she said after a small pause, “I have to admit that fireflies are much more beautiful in Konoha. Thank you for letting me enjoy such beauty…”

He bit his lip and took her hand in his. The Ice crystals were still showing from her bandage returned them both to the dreadful reality.

“You will survive Tsu, I promise you, and you will see many more fireflies. Not only these.”

She looked at him with a faded, crooked smile. A smile that only gravely ill and very tired people have. Kiba returned her a look and his heart squeezed painfully in his chest, skipping a beat.

“Don’t make a promise that you can’t keep.”

”I’ll keep it! You will see. We are close to finding the ancient temple of the Yuki clan, and there definitely should be information on how to cure you. And after the next mission is completed, we will go to a grill bar! In the land of water there are only sea creatures and practically no normal beef. I cannot let you go back to Kiri without letting you know all the delights of good meat.”

She chuckled.

“If you say so.”

But there would be no grill bar or any next time. They found information about the temple location, but at the cost of everything else. The disease turned out to be unstoppable at this point. Luckily, they managed to reach it in time and save Tsubasa’s life.

Three months had passed since her miraculous recovery. Representatives of the Mist village appeared in Konoha the next day and took the girl with them, not allowing her even to say goodbye to her new friends. Still, their paths will cross in the future.

Upon returning to Kiri, Tsubasa began to communicate a lot with Ino through letters, which made the Mizukage almost ecstatic. She hoped that friendship with the clan princess would turn into a possible strong political tie in the future. One way or another, Mei was going to make her children, if not a future Mizukage, then those on whom the village could rely. Sometimes Mei was so happy about the benefits that Tsubasa had a feeling that her illness and departure to Konoha were part of Sensei’s plan to improve relationships with the village from the very beginning. However, she thought it was too weird and silly to be true.

She also sent letters to Kiba. Feelings for him that suddenly flared up in her heart were not planning to disappear, but she still had no intention of getting into his personal life. He wanted to find his soulmate, and she respected that wish. This was the least she could do for him. “Besides,” she thought while drinking peach tea in the evenings and remembering how he was trying to warm her drastically freezing body on their trip to the temple, “it is unlikely that we would have succeeded even if there would be no soulmate. We are too loyal and attached to our villages and clans. None of us would move to another village for the sake of other. Only a soulmate had such privilege.“

Therefore, she was happy to be his friend at least, send the boxes of tangerines and dried seafood snacks on special occasions, help with advice on everyday problems that all teenagers went through, regardless of which shinobi village they were born in, and just talk about all sorts of nonsense.

At six am, there was a loud knock on the door. Tsubasa was just getting ready for the training and she had no idea who would need to see her at such an early hour (her teammates were waiting for her at the training field, so it could not be them).

A familiar figure was standing outside of the door. Tired from the road, a little nervous, but smiling. Holding a medium-sized flat box under his arm.

“Kiba? What are you doing here, especially this early?!”

“There were reasons,” he said giving her a box, “may i come in?”

“Of course, you can, I’ll make you some tea and something to eat for you two.”

The girl moved away to the side, letting the boy and his dog into the apartment. Akamaru immediately stretched and laid himself on the carpet of the living room, while Kiba took a seat in the kitchen.

“So, what’s the reason you came here?”

“Open the box,” he said with a smile.

Tsubasa raised her eyebrows skeptically. She put the box on the table, thin fingers gripping the blue lid and pulling it up. Her father’s mask with its cold material was staring right into the girl from the inside. Frozen in complete shock, looking at the once-lost thing dear to her heart, she did not notice how Kiba approached her from behind.

“I just felt lost,” he said in a soft voice, while tucking a loose strand behind her ear. Their faces were only a few inches apart, “And desperately wanted to be found.”

[siempre-pedro]

Put Your Head On My Shoulder

Pedro Pascal x Reader 

Summary: Everything is blissful when Pedro asks you to be his dance partner for a dance lesson he has to take for a new role, until you catch a contagious illness and have to cancel. Pedro finds a way to still dance with you and confess his feelings. 

Word Count: 2.2k

A/N: I’m obsessed with those songs but in another room videos/audio! I wrote this inspired by Paul Anka’s song...but in another room. I recommend listening to it while you read. 

Requests are OPEN

A gentle knock of your apartment door interrupted your glamorous dinner one Monday night. You folded the corner of your magazine and took one final bite of your Lucky Charms before getting up to answer it “Coming,” you shout, your mouth sill full of cereal.

Once you open the door, you swallow your food as fast as you can, not wanting to embarrass yourself in front of your hot neighbor. You’d known Pedro for years, he had moved in next to you and sent over a plate of baked goods and a note apologizing in advance for any noise. Both of you were smitten since that day. “Did I interrupt you again?” Pedro asks, grimacing at his awful timing.

“Nah I only got to the who wore it best section this time,” you chuckle, leaning on the cold door frame and tugging your knit sweater up on your shoulder. Pedro ran his fingers through his messy brown hair and then cooly put it in his front pocket “What do you need?”

“A favor,” he responds simply, “when was the last time you danced?” You squint your Y/E/C colored eyes and your lips pucker in thought.

“Senior prom. Why?”

“I signed on to do a project, and I have to learn how to waltz,” he explains, a pink tint rising to his tanned skin. You smile softly and cross your arms over your chest, motioning him to continue. “I found a class on Friday in Midtown, will you please be my partner?”

“Why me?” you ask, trying to hide a giddy smile that was threatening to make an appearance. The man of your dreams was inviting you out and all you do was stand there and look like an idiot! He looked so nervous and precious, standing there fidgeting on his spot.

“You know I have two left feet, I trust you not to laugh at me too much,” he laughs. That was fair, he did, hen he invited you to a friends wedding you got to experience that first hand. “Please, Y/N. I need you,” he begs looks at you with pleading eyes.

“Fine, fine, fine,” you agree “Friday.”

He sighs in relief and pulls his hands from his pockets “You are my savior, Y/N. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I’ll see pick you up at 5 and we’ll take the Subway, yeah?” He plans excitedly, almost bouncing. You bit back a girly laugh and did your best to keep your calm composure.

“I’ll see you then.”

Except you wouldn’t. Tuesday and come and gone and when Wednesday came you woke up with the worst headache of your life. Your neck was so stiff it felt like you were tied to a board, and after some back and forth with yourself, you made an appointment and thankfully, they were able to see you right away. Pedro was texting you nonstop for updates and made silly jokes to calm you. Some made you giggle and others made you groan from second-hand embarrassment.

Those jokes didn’t help when your doctor stood in front of you, his clipboard under his arm, and his eyes looking stern down at you. The older looking man takes a deep breath before giving you the diagnosis “Its meningitis,” he tells you bluntly.

You blink a couple of times, cocking your head as far as it could go without it hurting…which wasn’t that far at all “Meningitis?” you repeat confused, you’d never heard of that before.

The doctor leans against the old counter and uses his free hand to press against the back of his neck “You have an infection that’s causing swelling of the membrane covering your brain and spinal cord, ” he begins to explain, and this is where your daydreams came to a rough stop “It’s highly contagious and often deadly, seizures, brain damage, hearing loss.”

Your eyes widened at the amount of emphasis he used in ‘highly’ “Oh,” was all you could say. Fuck now you were afraid you were going to die! You couldn’t tell Pedro you liked him if you were dead. “H-how bad is my case?” you ask meekly, your eyebrows turning upwards in worry.

“Thankfully we caught it early and the infection is only bacterial, I’ll be giving you the best antibiotics I can and you should come out of this with no side effects,” he tells you, taking his clipboard from his arm to start writing down a prescription. Here comes another kicker “You need to be quarantined for at least a week, no face to face interaction with other people.”

“I have a date Friday,” you say without thinking about what you just blurted out. The doctor looks up from his clipboard and gave you a look that said ‘are you serious?’

“Do you want them to get infected?”

“No.”

He laughs “Then stay home and rest. I’ll supply you with a few masks to get home, then no going out. You go to the pharmacy and go home. Got it?”

You smile at him “I do. Thank you, Doc.”

Telling Pedro you couldn’t go dancing with him may have been the hardest thing you’d ever have to do. You imagined it was going to crush him as bad as it did you. You lean back in your seat on the train, passengers saw your blue medical mask and creating a bubble around you, at least you were alone-ish. Sliding your phone out of your pocket you begin to text him ‘I’m on my way back.’

He replies almost instantly ‘How’d it go? Are you ok?’

‘I have meningitis. A brain infection basically.’

‘Jesus Christ. Are you going to live???’

‘lol yeah. I have to be quarantined for at least a week. I’m HIGHLY contagious. I can’t go with you Friday, I’m so sorry Pedro.’

Pedro’s quick responses ceased. You were constantly checking your phone every few seconds to see if he texted back. You watched your screen intensely, no pop-up messages were appearing, and when it did it was just an Instagram notification that gave you false hope. It took the actor 7 minutes to finally respond.

‘Fuck. Please don’t worry Y/N, I just really want you to get better! I’ll go to that bodega down the street and get you a few things so you don’t starve and stuff.’

Fuck this guy for taking care of you, fuck him for being sweet and nice and everything you wanted him to be. Too bad you were breaking both your hearts, you think. No Pedro was fine you assumed, just helping out a friend.

When you got back to your apartment you found two grey plastic grocery bags filled with Gatorade, semi-healthy snacks, and Tylenol you assumed. On the bag was a neon yellow sticky note ‘I hope I got you everything you needed. I’ll see you in a few days : ) – Pedro’ it read. You smiled softly to yourself and picked up the bags, ready for the lonely week ahead.

Thursday you were in the worst pain of your life, it was like that scene if Ferris Beuller’s Day Off when Cameron was in bed telling Ferris that he was dying, unable to move. That was you, 80s music and all as you laid hopelessly in your bed, surrounded by clear bottles of Gatorade and snacks that Pedro provided. Pedro himself was only adding to your pain, his constant texts asking how you were and trying to make you feel somewhat better was backfiring, you still felt terrible about the dance class. In the evening Pedro would knock on your door, leaving your mail in front of the doorstep.  Too bad you couldn’t move to get it.

Friday you were able to accomplish getting out of bed and slowly moving around your apartment. You were leaning on your kitchen counter, chicken noodle soup near boil in a silver pot in front of you. You checked the clock on your microwave ‘4:58’ it read in glowing blue letters, Pedro would be leaving at any moment. That is if he was really going of course.

He was, the door to his apartment closed loudly and a light giggle rang through the walls. You stood stiff, that was a female voice. You rushed to grab a medical mask in the living room, tugging on your gray oversized sweater and a good excuse in your mind.

Your door opened in a rush and you stood in the hallway, the speed of everything got Pedro and the woman’s attention. God she was beautiful, tall and bronzed with silky long black hair, if they needed a new Miss Universe it would’ve been her. She was your foil, you were there in sweatpants and your hair greasy hair pulled up into a high bun, a blue medical mask covering your frown but they couldn’t conceal your dark bags. “Y/n,” Pedro speaks cautiously like a man in a relationship getting caught with another woman. The tall skyscraper of a woman scans you up and down disapprovingly and you didn’t miss her taking a step back when you coughed. “This is Katerina. Kat this is Y/n.”

“Hi,” she sighs, and you simply wave at her before crossing your arms over your chest defensively. Katerina, you hated the way he said her name with that accent of his. Your heart was shattered, would rather dance with her. Your mind quickly flashed to him leaning in to kiss her while they danced, their bodies pressed together.

“What are you doing outside?” he asks you with concern.

You bit your quivering lower lip and replied in a faltering tone “I just came to get my mail.”

Pedro’s dark brown eyes look at you sympathetically “Do you need it right now?”

The tears started to form in your eyes, she probably thought you were ridden with disease “N-no.”

“Please go rest, I promise to bring it to you tonight,” he pleads.

“Pedro we need to go, the Uber’s out front,” Katerina interjects.

You didn’t say anything as he offers a guilty smile before walking off with her. Once their figures disappear down the hall you take in a sharp breath, tears falling down your cheeks. Why did you have to get sick? Why did it have to be contagious? Why did he choose her? You were so angry and jealous and it going to the window in your bedroom to watch him help her into the Uber fueled the angry green fire in your soul.

Later that night you sat on your couch brooding, that night’s rerun of Entertainment Tonight providing background noise as you angrily flipped through Vogue. Pedro would be back any moment, and you were just waiting to hear Katerina’s obnoxious giggles. Soon enough Pedro’s front door opened and shut, no exchanges of words or laughter could be heard. Maybe he did come home alone and you were worrying for nothing.

Music started to play from the apartment next to you, the 50s song you recognized from your father's collection and that one all the kids were into these days. Why was he playing it this loud? You could hear Paul Anka’s voice over Kevin Frasiers on the tv, the bass gently thumping the wall behind you.

Your phone started to ring, Pedro’s name and goofy face popped up “Pedro you’re going to have to pay another fine if you keep it this loud,” you say playfully as you answer it.

“How are you feeling?” He asks lowly.

“Better.”

“Good, stand up,” he instructs.

“W-why?”

“Do his for me Y/N, please,” he sighs.

You shrug and oblige, putting your magazine to the side and standing up in the middle of your apartment “Now what?” you inquire.

“Can you hear the music?”

“How can I not… I’m sorry, yes, yes I can,” you laugh.

“Good, now close your eyes and imagine I’m with you…we’re dancing,” he tells you and you do what he says. You smile and start slowly swaying to the song “I really wish you were with me tonight.”

“You didn’t like what’s her name as a partner?”

Pedro chuckles and closes his eyes “No she was fine. I just wish it was you… my first choice.”

“First choice?” you question.

“You’re always my first choice, Y/N.”

‘put your head on my shoulder’ you cock your head to the side and imagine your putting your head in the crook of his neck, the smell of his cologne bringing a sense of comfort. “I didn’t mean to get sick,” you confess.

“I know, I know… I’m not upset at you or anything. I just had bigger plans for this evening,” he admits, a pink tint rising to his cheeks.

“Which are?” you hum.

“I wanted to tell you that I liked you. More than a friend.” Your eyes open and you snap out of the fantasy, your heart ready to burst from your chest.

“Pedro,” you breathed, wishing he could see the blissful smile. “I’ve liked you since you moved in.”

There’s a silence on both ends, the romantic song filling the void but soon he speaks “Once your better you’ll dance with me?” he wonders.

“I promise,” you say, and the fatigue sets in, “I-I’m getting tired, I did too much today”

Pedro hums in contentment “Go to sleep, I’ll bring your mail and slide it under the door. Goodnight, Y/N.”

“Goodnight Pedro,” you whisper. As you hang up the song ends, your eyes look at the wall that divided your apartments and smiled all the way to your bed.

[chiluc]

i humbly ask for kaeya and/or beidou the bisexy loves of my life also love ur childe hcs dude they made my day :DDDD

aaahavahshsjajahahs sam my beloved 🥺❤️💕 /p

first impression

kaeya - oooongGGGh gender <3 sexy little fruity bitch 🥰

beidou - wow this character can fit so much trans!! miss i would die for you <3 you are very pretty <3

impression now

kaeya - i am sorry for discarding you like garbage when i latched onto diluc i cant help it 😭 i still care you though

beidou - i am sorry for discarding you like garbage when i latched onto d

(i still love them both very much i just literally cannot think about characters other than diluc and sometimes tartaglia i have a disease and mental illnesses please forgive me)

favorite moment

kaeya - literally whenever he opens his mouth <3 personally love when he acts shady to maintain his image but is actually being considerate behind the scenes 🥺 like in jeans story quest when he seems like hes offloading all the responsibilities onto the traveler but hes actually organizing a party for jean 🥺 HE GETS SHY WHEN HE IS BEING NICE 🥺 SIR?? ❤️💕

beidou - the story about her defeating haishan is incredible BUT i also LOVE the story where she hires xiangling for the first time and subsequently adopts her :) amazing talented showstopping perfect. AND BEIDOU HELPING XIANGLING GET HER NAME OUT THERE AND BACKING HER UP AND 🥺❤️💕

idea for a story

kaeya - i think about this a lot okay but kaeya and diluc going to family therapy together 🥰❤️💕

(after attending therapy for a while they are able to have a much less strained relationship and kaeya is still an annoying older brother but diluc can be an annoying little brother too as a treat :])

beidou - hmm i think beidou/ningguang and their daughter xiangling doing silly little family shenanigans! beidou and xiangling drag ningguang to go ingredient hunting with them and ningguang is like but i can just buy this with mora and beidou and xiangling are like no you cannot! thats no fun at all now come jump off this cliff with us <3 afterwards xiangling cooks up a questionably edible meal and beidou is like 🥺 ningguang honey isnt our daughter so talented 🥺 and they kiss <3 the end <3

unpopular opinion

again i really stay out of this fandom hahaha. literally have no idea what would be considered an unpopular opinion uhhh kaeya and beidou are good actually you just dont know how to play them 💅💕 i think they deserve more love as playable characters 🥺

favorite relationship

kaeya - i mentioned this in the last ask but i love childe/kaeya as fwbs :) they are friends who would not hesitate to kill each other and also fuck sometimes but like no homo or whatever 🙄

beidou - how can i not love beigguang 🥺 trans wlw solidarity ❤️💕 also love xiangling amd beidous family dynamic hehe :) beidou really took one look at xiangling and went ohh it's free daughter <3

also kaeya and beidou are gay pirate besties :)

favorite headcanon

kaeya - he wears the eyepatch for The Aesthetic only :] ill die for this one. dont let me down mihoyo.

beidou - she is trans! this is a fact. beidou lost her eye in the transition 😭 this is so sad omg. oo beigguang hc but i think beidou has tried styling her hair like ningguangs in secret just to see how it would look :)

[uncloseted]

MASSIVE TW - SUICIDE, DEATH, DIFFERENT TYPES OF SUICIDE EXETRA

i wanna die. i’m going to do this no matter what anyone says and nothing can change my mind. i’ve looked at family photos, talked to the few friends i have that don’t even care about me ect and nothing is changing the fact that i am going to kill my self and i’m sorry for asking you this i really am but do you think overdose or a hanging will be easier on not only me but it also who finds me

I’ve been thinking a lot about whether to answer this question, or how to answer this question, or what the right thing to say or do is.  I’m not a mental health professional.  I’m not a doctor, I’m not a therapist, or a counselor, or a social worker, or someone who studied psychology.  I’ve never even worked at a crisis hotline.  I’m just someone who listens to people talk about their problems on the internet and sometimes, if I can, tries to help.  But at the same time, I don’t want to be another person who you feel doesn’t care about you.  You may not believe it right now, but I do care.  I care about each and every one of you so very much, and I can’t stand the thought of any one of you suffering.  So I want to answer.  I want to be able to help.

First things first, please, please call a suicide crisis line (you can find your country’s crisis number here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suicide_crisis_lines, and some also have a texting option).  The people who answer those calls are trained to be able to help you, and they’re an incredible resource.  They are always free and confidential.  You can also go to an emergency room (or call 911 for a person trained in suicide prevention to come to you) when you’re feeling suicidal; they’ll be able to get you counseling right away, and help you come up with a long term plan for feeling better.  If you can, I would also suggest talking to a family member, teacher, or other adult that you trust about what you’re feeling.  They can get you in touch with a therapist or doctor. 

Please consider seeking help. There are lots of different things that can help people who feel depressed or suicidal, and I think it’s worth giving them a chance. The worst that happens is the help doesn’t work and you’re back where you started.  The best that happens is you start seeing all the reasons there are to live, and you prevented yourself for making a permanent decision to a temporary problem.  And it is a temporary problem- one of the most common things that survivors of suicide say is that they immediately regretted it once they began their attempt.  Over 90% of people who have survived a suicide attempt don’t end up killing themselves later.  In my own life, I’ve seen this to be true- not a single one of my friends who have been suicidal still feel that way now.  None of them are even depressed; they’ve all found solutions that work for them, whether that’s lifestyle changes or therapy or SSRIs or experimental ketamine, shroom, MDMA, or TMS treatments.  Depression isn’t a state of being, a weakness, or a moral failing.  It’s a disease.  And just like any other illness, it deserves to be taken seriously and to be treated.  There is something out there that will work for you.  The situation is not hopeless, and you are not helpless.

I know it doesn’t seem like it now, because your depression is preventing you from being able to see the way out, but things can and will get better.  I know the world feels really bleak at this moment in time, but this time will pass.  The virus will end, the world will open up again, we’ll be able to go places and experience new things and meet new people who love us more than we’ve ever been loved before and fall in love and find people to care about and pursue passions and rebuild the world to be a better place.  Already, there is so much hope if you look for it.  The virus has shown the dark side of our world, yes, but it’s also shown how many people will make incredible sacrifices for the sake of others.  Even in the darkest of times, there are always people who care and who love. 

And there are always reasons to stay alive.  They don’t have to be big reasons.  They can be small, silly reasons, like wanting to see the next episode of a TV show you’ve been watching or a movie you saw a preview for, or wanting to go to the beach again, or that really good burger you had at the diner that’s closed for the next few months, or finishing that book you’ve been reading, or going to a concert for your favorite band, or staying up until the sunrise talking to someone you care about.  They can be big things, like wanting to finish a project or see a particular country or falling in love or helping other people.  Hell, they can even be petty.  Maybe there’s someone you want to prove wrong about you.  That’s enough to stick around for in my opinion.

To answer your actual question, the answer is neither, especially for the person who would find you.  That person will carry around that trauma for the rest of their lives.  They’ll feel heartbroken and guilty and wonder what they could have done differently to help you.  They’ll miss you.  There’s no way you can lessen that pain for them.  I’m not saying this to make you feel guilty; it’s just the truth of the situation, and I think it’s important for you to know that.

I dunno.  Like I said, I don’t really know what the right thing to say is.  But I really do care and hope that you’ll be okay.  I hope that you’ll give things another try.  I hope that I’ve helped you think about things differently at least a little bit.

[turnaboutimagines]

Hi! Can I get an imagine for either Miles Edgeworth or Phoenix Wright with an S/O that has the Hanahaki Disease and they are trying to confess their love to them but each day is becoming painful and you can decide how it ends! If that is ok?

Content Warning: This is ANGST, pals.  Major canon character death in the first one.  Reader death in both.  Not a pleasant way to go either, for that matter.  I tried to prevent this from being too graphic, but there is some.  Please read with care if any of that may be sensitive for you.  💚  I wrote for both of them because I personally really enjoy this trope for angst.For those who may not be familiar with it, Hanahaki Disease is a trope where one’s unrequited love manifests itself as coughing up flower petals and progressively worsens until it’s fatal—unless the love ends up being reciprocated!  In which case it’s cured.  (Spoiler alert: that’s not the case here.)

Miles Edgeworth.

It started after the two of you started growing close, when the ice around his heart finally began to thaw.  You saw a side of him that was… endearing and sweet.  A side of him that you’d wanted to see more of because it always made your heart flutter in your chest.

You’d just left his office with a stupid smile on your face when a coughing fit overtook you.  A rose petal.  Stark white against your palm.  It shape and color reminded you of the cravat he often wore.  The thought pooled like lead in your stomach, knowing that it was precisely thoughts like that which led you there.

“I must admit that romantic entanglements seem like a waste of time to me.  I don’t see the appeal…”

He’d said that to you a couple of weeks ago over some tea and you’d agreed in spite of yourself.  Hearing it had stung for a reason you didn’t quite understand then and you hadn’t been able to place it at the time, but that insidious little petal made it all far too clear as to why.

Those words continued to coil around your heart like the thorned stems of roses, digging in each time you tried to confess over the ensuing months.  And with each time you failed, the harder it became to breathe as more rose petals—both red and white—began to erupt from your lungs with greater frequency.  Because the love you held for him never wilted, it only grew more vivid.

You’d coughed up a full rose head that morning—white and stained with your blood that you knew your time was almost up.  So, you might as well tell him and you come up with an excuse to head up to his office in order to do just that.

But the words die in your throat once again because as you looked at him… you realize just how fragile he suddenly seems.  The look in his eyes mirrored your own, pained and exhausted and with it, your resolve turned to ash on your tongue.  It was selfish, wasn’t it?  To burden him with it when you were already on death’s door. 

He didn’t love you, but he didn’t deserve that kind of guilt weighing down on his shoulders.  You just wanted him to be happy… he deserved it after all he’s been through.

Miles waited a few moments, giving you a chance to speak up before he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest, a spark of hope in his eyes?  At least, you thought that was what it was, you’d seen that look before whenever you were about to make a spectacularly stupid move while playing chess with him.  It was charming.

“You said that there was something you needed to tell me, yes?”

It took you a moment to swallow the petals that began to unfurl in your throat.  Thankfully they were small enough that it wasn’t too painful… or maybe you were just getting too used to the discomfort.

“Right.  I…just… wanted to say thank you.”

The furrow between his brows deepened, confused but that little glimmer was still in his gaze.  “For what, precisely?”

You wanted to tell him, then.  That look on his face made you want to… but you couldn’t, the petals rising in your throat like aromatic bile.

“For being such a good friend to me lately,” you said, trying to sound like you meant it.  That you didn’t want more than that with him.  “And I was hoping that maybe I could treat you to some dinner tonight, if work allows?”

At the word ‘friend’ he looked away, always shy around your sentimentality.  “Ah, yes…I believe I’d like that very much, my friend.”

There was a sorrow to it that you didn’t expect.  One that you didn’t question, because you knew he likely just had something troubling on his mind, perhaps there was a memory on his mind.  Your hand flexed at your side, wanting to comfort him.  But perhaps he’d tell you about it tonight?  It was always better when he came to you with things, but in the meantime… you could at least take his mind off of it for a final time.

“Great!  The usual time and place, then?”

He let out a small sigh and looked at you with a ghost of a fond smile on his face.  “Yes, that will work just fine.”

But the light was gone, cold resignation in its place.  You really hoped he’d talk with you about it.

Neither of you seemed to know what to say next, but you don’t have to.  He leaned forward with his shoulders hunched up, expression contorted with pain pain as he seemed to battle against something.

“E-Edgeworth!?”  You lurch forward with a hand reached out to him, wanting to help—

He held a hand up to tell you to not come any closer, keeping his eyes focused on his desk—face away from yours as he tried to recompose himself.  You didn’t want to, but you stopped.

“I’m sorry… it’s a migraine.” Miles’s voice came out strained, painful to listen to because you could hear how much agony he was in.  “But could you please leave?  I… need the quiet.”

“Of course…”

He’d been having more of them lately, likely just a side effect from his work.  But you couldn’t say that you’d been upset about it, because it gave you a proper excuse to leave the office and go have a coughing fit in the bathroom.

You just hoped that he’d forgive you for what was likely one last act of selfishness… just one more evening together.  That’s all you could ask for.

It was a lovely, bittersweet evening, you couldn’t have asked for a better night… even if you had to come up with some ridiculous excuses to get away to the bathroom to shield him from the ugly truth of the matter.  You caught him staring at you more than once, as if he was tempted to say something about whatever was on his mind but ultimately never did.

Perhaps it was for the best, it wasn’t like you could really do anything about it aside from offer him a sympathetic ear…

And the following morning, you rushed to the toilet like usual, nauseous and choking as the flowers began to block your airways.  But unlike usual, too many were blooming too quickly and you crumpled to your knees before you could even make it halfway across your bedroom.

Too much…  It was too much…  You loved him too much…!

…

Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth is found dead the same morning, lily roots tangled in his lungs—having choked on the slender petals like the words he never said.

Phoenix Wright.

It was hard not to fall in love with Phoenix, although you resisted it for as long as you possibly could.  He was witty and sharp, yet simultaneously incredibly unlucky and silly at times.  There was never a boring moment with him and… you always felt cared for in his presence.  He made you feel like how the sunshine feels against your skin a beautiful summer’s day.

But you didn’t inspire such feelings in him, did you?  He looked at you like he looked at all his other friends—not like the way you looked at him.

The yellow petal that came from your throat confirmed as much to you: a brilliant representation of your darkest thoughts.  And you knew then that you were going to take these feelings to your early grave.

Yet you remained by his side far later into your illness than you should have, unable to stay away from him in the past.  You knew it’d only make it all hurt more… and so you started to force yourself to pull away from him.

“Distance makes the heart grow fonder.”  A famous adage and one you didn’t know the truth of until.  As much as you tried to stop thinking of him, the long yellow petals that forced themselves up your throat were a constant reminder of the man you were trying so hard to forget.  Even as they started coming out in clumps with drops of blood splattered across them, the thoughts of him were still sweet and comforting through your agony.

You missed his jokes, the ones that always made you feel better when you were feeling down, but you missed his smile most of all.  And with those memories, came more petals.  It was a vicious cycle.

However, you didn’t account for how perceptive Nick could be, especially when it came to his friends.  Which you just so happened to be, still.

Friends.

That’s all you were and yet, you found yourself seated on the sofa as soft sunlight filtered through the blinds.  You knew that going there was likely a mistake, but you’d taken great care to make yourself look presentable and not on the verge of death.

One last visit… just to say goodbye.

“So, what’s going on?”  He asked you as he sat down beside you on the couch in his office.  Maya wasn’t there, just the two of you.  “I’ve been worried about you.”

“Nothing…?”  You shifted awkwardly on the sofa, refusing to meet his eyes as you shrugged.  “It’s nothing major, anyways.  I’ve just… been busy.“

Even as you said it, you could feel how unconvincing it sounded, something that would not be lost on your lawyer friend.

“Aha, so you are hiding something from me!”  His finger was in your face, a force of habit, one that you’d always found quite endearing.

You started at that, giving him as severe of a look as you could muster,  “Y-You were just bluffing?!”

“I mean,” he started with an abashed grin, rubbing the back of his neck in that way you adored.  “Not entirely?  You’ve been avoiding me as of late, so I just kinda figured… that something’s been going on.”

You couldn’t argue with that.

“So, what’s going on?”

“…”

“…You know you can come to me for anything, right?” he asked as the very same hand came to rest on your shoulder.

“I know I can but… it really is nothing, Phoenix.  Just been too busy with work, you know?  It happens sometimes.  Don’t worry about it.”

A bluff.  Something you’d learned to do by observing him, but maybe that’s why his eyes narrowed.  Or maybe he’d just done this song and dance before.

“I don’t believe that.  You wouldn’t just avoid me for no reason.”

The tension is unbearable because you knew that he’s doing this because he cares.  It’s why you felt this way toward him to begin with.

“Phoenix… I’m fine, really!”  You let out a laugh at that, more nervous than you liked as you stood up.  “Why do you insist on this?  I haven’t done anything but ignore you, that doesn’t exactly warrant this type of interrogation.”

“Because I just—I know that something’s wrong and I want to help.”  He stood up then, frowning.  “I want to help you.  Please.”

It must’ve been a gut instinct thing, then.  Damn his intuition… 

“You can’t save everybody, Wright.”  His last name came out more spite than intended, but it wasn’t directed at him.  “Maybe I’ve backed off because I want to help you?  Did you ever think of that?”

“Why would I?  You’re my friend!  Of course I want to spend time with you and help you, there isn’t a situation where I wouldn’t…”

You’ve said too much already.  You couldn’t answer his question, although knowing him… he’d figure things out after you’d leave.  He was always smart like that.  So, you turned on your heel and left.  Or tried to, at least.

He called out your name, but you kept heading toward the door.  It wasn’t until he grabbed your wrist, voice stormy with exasperation and dripping with concern.  “Please, stop being so stubborn and just talk with me.  You’re worrying me.”

You didn’t look behind you.  You couldn’t.  The feeling of his fingers clinging desperately your wrist was enough to bring tears to your eyes.  He cared so much about you, but not in the way that you needed him to.

It was hard to breathe for a moment, choking on the petals rising in your throat before you managed to swallow them back down to borrow some more time.  Just enough…

“I…I’m sorry, but I can’t.  There’s really nothing you can do and talking won’t help.”  You yanked your hand from his wrist before grabbing the handle of the door and pushing it open. “Thank you for everything.”

“What is that supposed to—”

You slammed the door shut behind you and ran as far as you could before hacking up the petals and seeds from your lungs.  It was hurting too much, your throat felt raw and breathing was getting harder and harder, ears ringing with the tinny sound of your cellphone’s ringtone.  You needed to get home.

Everything was a blur by the time you got back, something large was obstructing your airway, moving up through it.  You’d barely made it through the door before you fell to your knees, unable to breathe through all the pain. And your phone kept ringing and ringing and ringing—

…

Phoenix Wright started carrying his badge in his pocket after that incident, unable to look at the symbolic sunflower without thinking of you and remembering his failure.

Why had he been so blind…?

[nicostolemybones]

Solangelo

I answered in short fics for each question! 

1. Who Reaches Out To New Neighbours

“Nico, what on Earth are you doing,” Will asked, snaking his arms around Nico’s waist and pressing a gentle kiss to the back of Nico’s neck.

“There’s a moving truck which means new people. I don’t like people,” Nico replied, taking Will’s hands.

“So you’re stalking them from the window?”

“I’m observing,” Nico corrected, and Will sighed, gently turning Nico around in his arms and cupping his cheek in his hand.

“I know it unnerves you, but it’s going to be okay,” he said gently, “I’ll go round to see them, scope them out. I’m sure they’ll be nice people, and if not, we stick to ourselves, okay?” There was a small pause.

“You’re going to bake them cookies, aren’t you?”

“Yep, I’m gonna bake them cookies.”

“What if they’re psychopathic murderers, Will,” Nico whined dramatically, “what if they’re cannibals and they eat you after they eat your cookies, Will, you need to poison the cookies!”

“Oh my gods, Nico,” Will sighed in exasperation, “They’re not gonna eat us, you’d probably bite them if they tried because you’re like a freaking really grumpy cat, di Angelo!” Will smushed Nico’s cheeks, who tried his best at a murder glare. Will merely giggled and glowed, booping his nose. “Boop!” Nico snapped playfully at Will’s finger, who yelped in surprise and put on a fake hurt glare whilst Nico smirked smugly. “I’m gonna go bake cookies for the neighbours!”

2. Who Remembers To Buy Healthy Food

“WILL!” Nico yelled, and Will came skidding into the kitchen.

“What’s happened?”

“What is this?” Nico held up a bag full of salad ingredients on the end of a spatula, holding it at arm’s length.

“Healthy food.”

“I don’t want it, I don’t like it, I want to set it on fire.”

“No setting the food on fire, Nico! I’m making a stir fry, I figured I should make it colourful and healthy,” Will explained calmly with a small smile.

“But it’s yucky vegetables!” Nico protested, staring at the bag of healthy food like it had personally offended him.

“No, they’re delicious, and without them, you will literally slowly die of disease.”

“At least I would have tasted something better than cardboard!”

Will sighed heavily. “If I deep fry it will you eat the veg-”

“Yes!”

3. Who Remembers To Buy Junk Food?

Will was awoken by clattering downstairs. Convinced he was about to be murdered, he reached for Nico, but he found the space beside him unoccupied. With a heavy sigh, Will trudged downstairs, grabbing the bow and arrow he kept on the stairwell and loading an arrow ready.  He turned on his glow, ready to attack- and screamed.

“Gods Nico! Don’t just do that! What are you doing down here? Is that McDonald’s?!”

Nico froze, a nugget hanging out of his mouth and eyes iridescently reflecting like a cat’s. “No,” Nico lied round the nugget.

“It’s like four am, holy shit Nico,” Will groaned, “I can’t believe you!”

Nico blinked, staring for a moment, before taking the nugget out of his mouth and holding it out. “Nugget?”

“I’ll make you into a nugget in a minute,” Will grumbled, turning on the light and sitting at the table. Will slid a bag over to Will, who peered inside, more than happy to see a quarter pounder inside. “Gods I love you. McDonald’s at 4am.”

“Only because I know you forget to eat after a night shift and somebody has to feed you.”

4. Who Fixes The Oven When It Breaks

“NICO!” Will yelled, and Nico skidded into the kitchen on his socks. “Is the cooker meant to do that?”

“Do what?”

“That.” Will pointed to where there was a plastic plate and utensils melted onto the hob.

“Will. How? How did you do this? How? This is worse than the time you set the spaghetti on fire!”

“I was trying to reheat my jacket potatoes on the hob and I left and then the plate was goo!”

Nico facepalmed hard. “You’re meant to put stuff in the Microwave, Will, good old Chef Mike! Of course plastic will melt on the hob! You’re supposed to have a brain cell! Idiota!”

“Sorry,” Will pouted, “I really can’t cook.”

“You silly sunshine,” Nico teased affectionately, wrapping his arms around Will and swaying slightly, “I’ll have to teach you to cook as soon as we get Leo to fix it. I’ll teach you how to cook real food, not this bland muck, then you won’t be living off hospital food all the time. In the meantime, how about we order a takeaway? You can choose and I’ll pay.” Nico pressed a loving kiss to his cheek to let him know that he wasn’t mad at Will for accidentally ruining the cooker.

“Any takeaway?”

“Anything you want. Now go sit down and I’ll do you some tea, you’re probably stressed about the cooker and you need to take care of yourself.”

5. Who Waters Their Plants/ Feeds Their Pets?

“Will,” Nico interrupted, “Are you talking to a houseplant.”

“And singing to it!” Will beamed, and Nico sighed, smiling to himself.

“That’s adorable Will.”

“Thank you! I watered it but I felt bad about forgetting to water it yesterday so I wrote it an apology song. Did you feed the pets?”

“Oh my god, stop being adorable you dork,” Nico huffed, standing on his toes to rest his elbow on Will’s shoulder. Will bent down to allow Nico to do so. “And I did. The cat hissed at me because I gave it the wrong flavour and the dog slobbered all over my face and proceeded to eat the cat’s food. It reminds me of you.”

“I have never slobbered on your face, I just licked it once when I was drunk and happened to drool on your cheek a little! Anyway, you’re only saying this because you know you’re just like the cat.” Nico hissed for effect, and Will giggled, resuming serenading the plants. Nico discreetly pulled his headphones on- Will loved to sing, bless his heart, he just wasn’t very good at it. But Nico never wanted him to stop, because his whole face lit up and it was worth the damage to his ears.

6. Who Wakes Up Earlier

Nico was rudely awoken at the asscrack of dawn by Will’s heavy stomping around the bedroom. Nico groaned in protest, burying himself into the covers. He scooted over to the still warm patch where Will had been sleeping and inhaled the scent of Will on the pillow. “What time is it,” he mumbled incoherently, and Will bounced towards the bed, kneeling down and gently stroking Nico’s hair.

“It’s six am, I just got back from a two hour jog.”

“Oh my gods,” Nico grumbled, pulling the covers over his face, “it’s too early, Will, come back to bed!”

“But I’m already awake!”

“And I didn’t fall asleep until half three, get back into bed so we can cuddle, you’re warm and I’m tired.”

“Sorry, Neeks,” Will said softly, “but I have an early shift at the hospital and I need to be there in an hour, but I’m off work tomorrow, so, we’ll stay up late with a movie and fall asleep together and I’ll stay in bed to cuddle until you wake up, and then I’ll do you breakfast in bed and we can cuddle some more and do whatever you want. We can take a bubble bath together with some candles and massage oils, just spend some time relaxing and pampering each other. Although maybe the candles shouldn’t be on the side of the bath in case the water knocks them down again.”

“Goodnight,” Nico groaned, and Will laughed softly, melodically, pressing a lingering kiss to Nico’s forehead.

“You go back to sleep, call if you need me, okay? I love you.”

“Love you too,” Nico murmured, burying his face into Will’s pillow.

7. Who Makes The Bed

“Nico,” Will murmured, and Nico groaned from underneath his blanket mound.

“What?”

“You stole all the blankets and I’m cold.”

“Here,” Nico mumbled, throwing one of his blankets to Will.

“Nico, there’s popcorn stuck to this,” Will grimaced. Nico whined tiredly. “We haven’t had popcorn since last month.

“Don’t care,” Nico protested tiredly.

“You need to make the bed.”

“You need to make the bed,” Nico retorted.

“I do!” Will protested, sitting up. Nico whined in protest at the shift, sitting up besides Will with a tired groan, his face in his hands.

“When?”

“I changed the sheets just a few days ago!” Will protested

“Not according to the popcorn,” Nico grumbled.

“Have we cleaned anything recently?”

“I ate the cereal out of the box this morning when I couldn’t sleep because we have no clean bowls.”

“I have no idea how to make the bed,” Will confessed, and Nico squinted at him through tired eyes.

“Neither do I.”

“Maybe we should have learned this before moving in together.”

“Mhm,” Nico mumbled in agreement, diving back under the blankets, “I’ll get the ghosts to do it.”

“What ghosts?”

“Never mind.”

“Nico, what ghosts?”

“Goodnight, W    ill.”

“Nico, I’m scared.”

“Then cuddle me.”

8. Who Makes The Coffee

Nico threw himself into one of the dining room chairs, his hair sticking up in all manner of directions, tangled and generally looking like a bird’s nest. He groaned loudly, flopping his head onto the table with a thud and another groan. “Morning, sunshine!” Will grinned, and Nico looked up just long enough to hiss in pain as his eyes were assaulted with neon yellow spandex. Nico whined agonisingly in response, realising that the table was suddenly very comfortable indeed, closing his eyes. He heard the sound of Will getting the mugs out of the cupboard and the kettle being put on to boil.

“Coffee?” he asked hopefully, and Will laughed softly.

“I know it won’t wake you up much, but it is chilly and it’ll warm you up.”

“If I have coffee, I might go back to sleep.”

“Usually I’d say yes you should, but you slept a solid ten hours, that’s oversleeping, that’s why you’re so sleepy. So, once you’ve had your coffee and you’re comfortable but you’ve had the time to wake up a little, we’re just gonna have a lazy day and we’re gonna cuddle on the sofa.” Nico mumbled in appreciation, drifting off a little until he heard Will gently place the mug of coffee by him on the table. “Wake up, sleepy head,” Will said softly, running his fingers through Nico’s hair. Nico lifted his head up and pressed his lips to Will’s in a slow, lazy kiss, smiling in appreciation of the coffee.

9. Who Burns Breakfast

Nico woke to the sound of the fire alarm ringing in his ears. He grumbled rolling out of bed and almost falling back asleep on the floor, slowly trudging downstairs to an all-too-familar sight: Will at the stove and smoke everywhere. Nico coughed, opening the windows and wetting a cloth under the sink, holding it over his mouth and nose to avoid the smoke. He wet another and handed it to Will. “What did you do this time?”

“I tried to make toast.”

“Why is there a frying pan on the stove?”

“To make the toast.”

“For Hades’s sake Will, there’s a toaster.”

“I just put the bread in the pan dry and then it stuck and started to burn and I don’t know how but it caught on fire and then the bread turned to ashes and the fire’s just embers.” Nico sighed, picking up the broomstick they used to turn the smoke alarm off, leading Will to the living room.

“I appreciate you trying Will, but I’d very much like to live without you burning the house, so leave breakfast to me until you learn how to cook. Let’s eat dry ramen noodles instead. For future reference, you put the bread in the toaster and push the lever down and when it pops up you wait a few seconds for it to cool, put it on a plate, then spread the butter. Okay?”

10. How Do They Let Each Other Know They’re Leaving The House?

“Nico,” Will called softly, kneeling by the bed, and Nico groaned loudly from beneath the covers. “Nico babe, I’m popping to the shops, I’ll be back in half an hour okay? I’ve left the TV on for you, and I washed your favourite blanket last night, it’s time to wake up now, so why don’t you go downstairs. If you fall asleep on the couch I’ll wake you when I get back okay?” Will kissed the top of his head and Nico mumbled in response, and Will left for work

---

“WILL!”

“WHAT?”

“WILL!”

“WHAT?!”

“WILL!”

“I’M IN THE SHOWER, ASSHOLE!”

“I’M GOING TO MCDONALDS YOU FUCKNUGGET, DO YOU WANT ANYTHING?”

“FRIES, NOW FUCK OFF!”

“YOU FUCK OFF!”

“JUST FUCK OFF AND BRING ME BACK MY FRIES!”

11. How Do They Greet Each Other When One Of Them Gets Home?

“I’m back!” Will called, locking the door behind him and pulling off his coat, catching his breath. Then the smell of dinner hit him, and he’d never been more hungry. He took his shoes off and scrambled to the kitchen, where Nico was just pulling a lasagne out of the oven.

“Go get changed into your pyjamas,” Nico said, “I’ll dish up, just go.” Will smiled softly and quickly kissed Nico’s cheek, making his way upstairs to change into his cotton pyjamas. He put his most comfortable slippers on and made his way back downstairs, where Nico had lit some candles and sprinkled a few rose petals on the table. Will blushed as Nico pulled out his chair for him, placing his plate in front of him. “After a double shift you deserve a nice romantic night. Once you’ve eaten, I’ll run you a bubble bath, with all those essential oils and bath bombs you like so much, then I’ll give you a massage to work all that tension out.”

“Aww, Nico,” Will smiled smittenly, “this is so romantic and sweet of you! But I think I’ll be too tired to give you anything in return…”

“It doesn’t matter,” Nico said softly, “you’ve had a long day, I don’t expect anything tonight. I just wanna pamper you and take care of you. We can just cuddle together. Wanna talk about your day? When you called me at lunch I figured you sounded stressed, and I’d like to hear about it.”

“I lost a patient,” Will admitted, slowly eating his lasagne. It tasted amazing, comforting, and Will found himself feeling open and honest. “I know it wasn’t my fault, they had end stage lung cancer, but I cried a little.”

“Hey,” Nico said gently, reaching across the table to take Will’s hand, and Will put his fork down, sobbing into his hand. “Hey, come here,” Nico soothed, standing up and making his way over to Will, gently hugging him, “I know you did everything you could to help, and I know you made their last few minutes comfortable and calming. It’s gonna be okay, Will, just cry it all out.”

---

“WILL I’M BACK!” Nico shouted, and Will skidded to the door, tackling Nico in a flying hug. Nico laughed, backing into the wall for balance. “It’s nice to see you too, Will.”

“A whole day,” Will said against his shoulder, “I missed you. Bed was cold without you. Couldn’t sleep. I tried to watch a horror movie to remind me of you but I just got spooked without you.”

“I’m back now,” Nico smiled, hugging back tightly. Will hummed contentedly, inhaling Nico’s scent and lightly nibbling the flesh of his neck. Nico sighed blissfully, guiding Will’s chin up and gently kissing him. Will pressed Nico closer to the wall, kissing him slowly.

“I missed you,” Will said again.

“And I missed you too,” Nico smiled, playing with the curls at the nape of Will’s neck. Will kissed him again, letting it linger for a little longer until Nico pulled away. “Let me get showered and changed before you get all clingy with me, okay?”

“What? Sorry, I didn’t hear the part after the part where you’re getting naked.”

“Will,” Nico chuckled, “ I was gone a day, do you know how adorable you are when you get all needy?”

“I missed you,” Will protested, hugging Nico again. Nico sighed, smiling softly.

“I love you too but I smell of brimstone and blood, I smell gross, let me get clean and changed into something comfortable and then I’m all yours for the night.”

12. Who Brings Home Little Gifts Like Flowers/ Chocolates More Often?

“What’s this,” Will asked curiously.

“Open it,” Nico said with a small smile. Will looked at him curiously, and opened the small box. It was empty, so Will picked it up, frowning, examining the velvet box.

“Nico, there’s nothing insi…” Will cut himself off the moment he looked to wear Nico had been standing, because he was down on one knee with a ring in his hand. “Oh my gods…”

“I know I don’t get you much, because I don’t exactly have a paid job, and I know you’re always getting me little gifts all the time and bringing me back cool bones you find in your run through the forests, and I love the way you try and always fail to cook for me and you get all pouty and sad because you just want to make me happy, and I wanted to make you see just how happy you make me, Will. I want you to have my mother’s ring, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. So William Solace, will you be my husband now and forever? Will you marry me?”

“Oh my gods, Nico,” Will gasped, “yes, of course! Oh my gods… I love you!”

“I love you too,” Nico replied with a smile, placing the ring on Will’s finger, “speaking of you love me, I’m stuck and I can’t get back up off the floor, help me.” Will giggled, carefully helping Nico up off the floor and pulling him into a hug.

“It’s funny,” Will smiled, “because I just went out and brought a ring for you too. I was gonna propose during dinner.”

“Oh my gods,” Nico grinned, laughing softly, and Will pulled the ring from his pocket. “Yes,” Nico smiled, letting Will place it on his finger and leaning up to give him a slow, loving kiss. Both men were crying a little but hey, who wouldn’t?

13. Who Picks The Movie For Movie Night?

“What are we watching?” Will asked, settling with his feet up and a bowl of popcorn on his stomach. Nico held up two DVDs and Will shook his head. Nico sighed, digging through the box and holding up two more. Will made a noise of consideration before shaking his head again. The process repeated until Will had picked a pile of ten movies. Nico sorted through them, picking out three of them.

“I like these,” Nico said, and Will cocked his head to the side in consideration.

“Eh… I’m not sure…”

“Will,” Nico groaned, “it’s been twenty minutes and you’ve already ate half of the popcorn to yourself!”

“Wait, this was meant to share?”

“Yeah,” Nico huffed, sorting through the pile of movies and holding one up. “This?”

“Perfect,” Will smiled, and Nico set up the DVD, before finally joining Will on the sofa and curling into his side. He smiled sweetly, kissing Will, who let go of the popcorn to hold Nico comfortably. With a small snicker, Nico stole the bowl of popcorn and sat on the floor, hunched over it like a gremlin and shovelling it into his mouth. “Hey!” Will protested, and Nico almost choked laughing. Will dove onto the carpet, attempting to grab the bowl back off Nico, who threw a piece at Will’s head. Instead of watching the film, the great popcorn war of 2019 ensued. 

14. Their Favourite Kind Of Movie To Watch

Will screamed, grabbing Nico’s arm and pressing himself loser to Nico, almost crushing him. “Will,” Nico protested, wrestling him slightly to get them comfortable and readjust the blanket, “that was the funny part!”

“Nico, his guts are all over the floor!”

“I know,” Nico chuckled, “the circular saw just cut right through him! Gutted like a fish! Did you see the blood spray all over the nurse’s face?”

“You’re twisted!” Will replied, settling back into his side and stress eating chocolate, “why do I agree to watch these again?”

“Because you like the cuddles,” Nico replied, “and the kisses afterwards when you’re hopped up on adrenaline-” Nico burst out laughing as Will heard a scream and chopping noises.

“Oh my gods,” Will cringed, “I know I like horror and gore, but I’m not even sure this is legal!”

“It’s not,” Nico replied, “only in Russia.”

“Nico, I’m scarred for life.”

“I won’t let anyone murder you like that, Will,” Nico reassured, “that’s my job.”

“I’m scared,” Will whined, “turn it off.” Nico sighed, turning it off and turning to Will, cupping his face in his hands.

“I am so, so sorry,” Nico began gently, “I didn’t realise it would distress you so much otherwise I would not have put it on for you. Are you okay?”

“I need a hug,” Will whimpered, and Nico immediately wrapped him in his arms.

“No more illegal films, I promise. Only regular horror, because you like watching that more than I do.”

“Yeah,” Will agreed, and Nico rubbed soothing circles on his back.

“We’ll sleep with the lights on,” Nico soothed, kissing the top of Will’s head. “Hey, you’re shaking.”

“I’ll be okay,” Will replied, “just keep holding me and I’ll be okay. You make me feel safe, Nico.”

“Hey, I’m not going anywhere,” Nico reassured, rocking them slightly, “I’m right here. I’ve got you. Next time we watch Dracula, you love that.”

“Yeah, it’s my favourite,” Will replied, burying his face in Nico’s chest.

15. Who First Suggests A Pillow Fort?

,”Will,” Nico began as Will piled yet another freshly washed and dried blanket into Nico’s arms, “can we built a nest with these?”

“A nest?” Will questioned, the corner of his mouth jumping up.

“Like a blanket fort, but a permanent one, with loads of cushions. Most of these blankets are old and we have new ones, and it would be really romantic to sit in there. We can decorate it with fairy lights and we can watch Netflix in there or make out! Please?”

“Nico, I am an overgrown child, I am never gonna turn down the opportunity to make a blanket fort! Never! I could be fifty and I will still want a blanket fort!” Nico giggled, and Will grinned mischievously. “I got a load of unused cushions in the closet we can use for the floor, and I have lots of soft pillows too.”

“Have I told you how much I love you lately? Because I really love you.”

“I love you too, little boo,” Will replied, and Nico blushed at the nickname and smiled.

16. Who Builds The Pillow Fort?

Needs to be higher,” Nico said, and Will secured the bungee cord to the hook on the wall. “That’s about right,” he said, and Will looked at the frame and nodded.

“Now for the floor,” Will said, and he and Nico began to lay out pillows, piling them up until they had a soft floor, laying a blanket over it. Nico sat in the middle, looking up at the frame, and Will checked the feel of the frame to make sure it wouldn’t collapse. It could handle enough pressure, so Will started with the blanket walls that were against the wall, tying the ends to the chord and making sure the bottom was tucked in under the floor, sewing to the frame once he was satisfied with the positioning.

Nico looked at the pile of blankets still left, and Will stepped back to analyse the frame. They’d used bungee chords and thick strips of cut up denim to make a frame sturdy enough for a permanent blanket fort. Will carefully placed the first blanket underneath, tying and sewing it to the frame so it draped from the centre outwards, but not too low. Nico looked up, poking it and tugging it lightly, and Will set out on putting the third side on. He carefully tied and sewed it like before, and Nico was almost inclined to go to sleep, quite enjoying his minimal contributions despite it being his idea.

Next came the front of the fort, which was more tricky and Nico had to help position them so that they could be tied back like curtains and pulled shut. Nico had to hold everything in place whilst Will secured it, and then there was only the top blanket to go. Will had even gone to the length of installing a hook to the ceiling, to suspend the top blanket from and make it into a point at the top. Once it was secured to the bungee chord, it didn’t take long for Will to sew it to the frame. He stepped back to the door to admire his handiwork- it was right in the corner next to the window, the third blanket wall facing into the room and the entrance facing the sofa barely a foot away- it seemed nice and private. Nico was already hooking up all the fairy lights and arranging the cushions by the time Will crawled in- and it was a lot bigger than he thought.

“This is so cosy,” Nico commented, leaning against the wall with popcorn, his laptop on the pillow floor. It was really soft to sit.

“It’s so private in here, so intimate,” Will commented, and Nico smiled, putting the popcorn and laptop aside in favour of kissing Will.

“I can’t believe we’re grown adults and we made a pillow fort,” Nico commented between kisses, laying down and pulling Will to lay beside him.

“Worth it though,” Will replied with a smile, cuddling into Nico, “our own little escape, a private corner for us to hide and relax and have fun.” Nico giggled softly, melting into the lazy cuddles and kisses Will was eager to offer.

17. Who Tries To Distract The Other During A Movie.

“Nico, stop that,” Will said absently, picking up another handful of popcorn, eyes transfixed to the screen. Nico doubled his attention seeking efforts by prodding Will in the ribs. “Nico, I’m watching this.” Nico snickered, poking him in the ribs again, but Will simply ignored him, so Nico upped his game and started tickling Will.

Will shrieked, pushing Nico’s freezing hands away, and Nico laughed, moving his hands up Will’s shirt to tickle his bare skin. Will whined in protest and squirmed, unable to stop the stream of laughter that followed. He playfully wrestled Nico, putting him in a headlock, and Nico tried to twist, his foot somehow ending up by Will’s ear. They ended up in fits of giggles, just collapsing onto each other with uncontrollable laughter. They shared soft kisses and light touches, still tickling each other and laughing between kisses, enjoying the feeling of being young again, being childish again, because after a long week of serious adulting, it felt good to unwind.

---

It started out with Will lightly tracing his finger on the back of Nico’s hand, which tickled, but didn’t stop Nico from concentrating on the movie. Then Will’s fingers started to trace patterns up and down his arm, enough to give him goose bumps and shiver a few times, but Nico had decided this was now a game of chicken and he was not gonna back down. As a result of Nico ignoring Will, Will only tried harder to distract Nico, and by the time Will was kneading his thigh and nibbling his earlobe, Nico was finding it difficult to hold back a soft moan. Will giggled, reaching over to turn the film off, giggling triumphantly when Nico wrapped his arms around Will, sighing happily as Will kissed down his neck. “What about the film, Will,” Nico protested, although he didn’t care about the film anymore, not when Will took his bottom lip between his teeth, tugging on it. Nico whined, whimpering when Will swiped his tongue across Nico’s lips. “I can’t believe you distracted me so easily, Will,” Nico huffed, and Will giggled against his lips. Nico figured they could watch the film another day- Will was in a good mood and Nico fully intended to make the most of it. After all, time spent with a busy husband who spent so long was work was precious, and intimate moments full of love and passion of any kind were always going to be so much better than any horror film anyway. Especially after Will had completed a week of double shifts and night shifts and Nico had been busy in the underworld when Will was home. Nico figured they had to make up for lost time, and he certainly didn’t mind missing the film in favour of a little fun.

18. Who Falls Asleep First

Nico was, through lack of a better word, one heck of a sleepy boy. He stayed up late, often had nightmares and interrupted sleep, so most evenings they didn’t even make it to the bedroom before Nico would get so comfortable he ended up drifting off to sleep. Even at mealtimes Nico had been known to yawn and rest his head on the table, and start snoring gently, with his cheek pressed into the table, barely on the chair. Nico fell asleep almost every time they settled in front of the TV for the evening, with the fireplace heating the room gently and fluffy socks, in one of Will’s hoodies that was more like a tent for Nico and comfortable cotton pyjamas, Nico would always fall asleep pressed into Will’s side and gathered up in his arms, and Will would gently braid Nico’s hair for him.

But today was different. After being left to his own devices to wake himself up in the morning when Will had been called into work early because of a road traffic collision, Nico had decided it a good idea to sleep in until five pm. So by midnight, Will was getting sleepy, and Nico wasn’t even twelve hours into his day. Will was very clearly fighting his sleepiness, but he kept nodding off and squinting and blinking at the TV, yawning every few seconds, until finally, he was lulled into a peaceful slumber, laying over Nico like a lizard on a rock, crushing him. Nico didn’t mind too much, gently braiding Will’s hair. He was rather cute like this, Nico thought.

19. Who Is Big Spoon/ Little Spoon

“I’m cold,” Nico whined, pressing closer to Will’s side. Will laughed lightly, rubbing his hand up and down Nico’s arm.

“Then maybe you should put your pants on,” Will suggested.

“Maybe I don’t wanna put my pants on,” Nico protested, leaning over Will and over the side of the bed, retrieving Will’s hoodie up off the floor and pulling it over his head. Will laughed softly as Nico nestled back under the covers. Nico rested his head on Will’s chest, resting his hand over his belly and pushing his leg in between Will’s thighs. Will wrapped his arm around Nico, resting it on his waist, kissing the top of his head and holding him close. Nico hummed contentedly, staying in that position for a while, until he realised it wasn’t very comfortable and rolled over. Will immediately curled around him, pulling him closer until their backs were pressed together. He buried his face between Nico’s shoulder blades, and Nico intertwined his fingers with Will’s.

“Goodnight, Nico,” Will said softly, and Nico whined tiredly in response. Will pressed a gentle kiss into his shoulder, and Nico lifted his head up. Will laid his arm across Nico’s pillow, and Nico rested his head on Will’s arm, adjusting slightly to press more tightly into the heat of Will’s bare chest.

“You’re really warm,” Nico mumbled, and Will squeezed Nico’s hand.

“I love you, Nico.”

“I love you too, Will.”

---

Waking up with sunrise was never pleasant for Will- he always energised quickly, barely able to get back to sleep. He shifted slightly, realising he was right by the edge of the bed and trapped in place. Nico’s leg was wrapped around his waist, Nico’s foot pressing into the front of Will’s thigh. Nico’s arm was slung over his shoulder lazily, and Nico’s face was buried into the nape of his neck, his soft breaths tickling him slightly, holding him protectively. It seemed the human backpack would not be letting Will out of bed, but Will didn’t mind. He pulled Nico’s arm under his own arm, tangling their fingers together like they always did. It wasn’t very often that they were able to cuddle in the night. In fact, there was a second bed in the room, because Nico was prone to night terrors from PTSD, and sometimes he thrashed around a lot in his sleep, so cuddling like this was a luxury Will intended to make the most of. He was glad Nico seemed to have a restful sleep, so he let himself relax, remembering all the sweet nothings and giggles and surprises of the night before. He craned his neck, content to see Nico still wearing his hoodie. Will reached down to the floor to pull his phone from his jeans pocket- he had an email from the hospital, but it was only a reminder of the new junior doctors who would be coming in. Will was a registrar, training to be a consultant. Nico shifted slightly, his heel jamming into a rather painful place. Will hissed and groaned in pain, removing Nico’s foot from around him and cradling the damaged goods, but Nico just threw his leg back over Will’s waist, this time jamming his foot right into Will’s bladder.

“Nico,” Will called, and Nico whined in protest at being woken up. “Nico, I have to pee, can you let go?”

“Five more minutes,” Nico protested, pulling him closer and nestling into his back.

“Your foot is on my bladder.” Nico whined, reluctantly detangling himself from Will, pulling him to face him so he could kiss him good morning.

“Leave the bathroom light on and make me a coffee,” Nico mumbled, and Will smiled softly, looking for his boxers on the floor.

“Of course,” Will replied, before looking at how tiny and adorable and warm Nico looked in Will’s grey hoodie. “Oh, and you can keep my hoodie. You look adorable,” he said, smiling to himself as Nico blushed.

[dadsbongos]

Morose

Movie/Game/Show: Danganronpa: Goodbye Despair Dynamic: Hajime Hinata/Reader Warnings: subtle(?) spoilers aside from the despair disease, once again i don’t write with plot :), and yes I DO know Nagito’s supposed to faint but no I didn’t write it in here Summary: Hajime can’t help but be worried as his friends’ personalities are flipped upside-down.  ~~~

“Hajime!” (Y/n) cheered, a smile lighting up at the sight of the boy, waving him over as he went towards his cottage, “It’s been a bit, huh?”

“We spoke this morning,” he awkwardly pointed out.

Giggling to herself, the girl’s hands flew up as if to shrug, “So we did! I can barely keep track anymore, we’ve been on this island awhile, ya know?” 

“I know what you mean,” Hajime muttered, shaking his head, “What did you need though?”

“Oh, well,” fanning herself off with her hand, (Y/n) looked to the side, “I’ve been feeling a little hot all day. Kinda worried I’m getting sick,” she sighed, “It’d be awful if someone took advantage of me being sick to kill me.”

To be completely honest, Hajime wasn’t expecting that - usually, the girl before him was incredibly cheerful. Barely even said the word ‘kill’ unless they were in a trial, and even then, she was hesitant.

“No way,” he immediately refuted, “You won’t get murdered. Not now, not later. Nobody else will be killed.”

“You can’t really promise that,” she grumbled, rubbing at her temples, “Sorry, this headache is really biting me right now.”

Hajime waved off her apology, “Shouldn’t you be lying down then? I could get Mikan.”

“No, no!” she smiled weakly, shaking her head, “I don’t wanna bother her, besides, I’m already feeling better just talking to you!”

“I don’t think that’s how illness works, at all.”

“Maybe,” she all but sang, drawing out the ‘y’, tossing her head back slightly to look at the darkening sky, “But I can’t lie. You’re a good distraction, Hajime.”

“Thanks?”

“I just mean that you make me forget how much this all sucks,” she grinned, watching as the stars blinked above her, “You’re a good friend, Hajime. I don’t know where we’d all be without you. Maybe that’s your Ultimate, huh?”

“Ultimate Friend?” he didn’t want to laugh in the poor girl’s face, but even she should be able to admit it was ridiculous.

“It is kinda silly,” (Y/n) pouted, clasping her hands behind her back before lighting up once again, “Or the Ultimate Hope! Or maybe the Ultimate Detective? Or the Ultimate- “

“I think that’s good for now,” Hajime settled his hands on the girl’s shoulders, “It’s getting dark, I think we should head to our cottages.”

“Oh, alright!” (Y/n) bounced out of the boy’s grip before dashing towards her cottage, “See ya tomorrow, Hajime!”

~~

Waking up the next morning to Monokuma’s voice, (Y/n) pursed her lips at the uncomfortable dryness of her throat. And then the heat. Absolute sweltering temperatures with a headache to crack open her skull.

She stood from her bed, immediately going to the bathroom and cupping her hand under the running sink, hoping that drinking some water would ease her throat. It succeeded, temporarily.

Deciding that, sadly, no matter what she did it was hopeless - (Y/n) managed to put herself together before dragging her way down to the cafeteria. She just barely pressed towards the dining area before growing quickly irritated at the sound of loud wails that only seemed to get worse when she went inside. Akane was sobbing, breaking down into nothing before all her classmates.

Hajime had crossed arms as he watched the woman cry over poor Nekomaru, “Doesn’t something seem a little… off about her?”

“Like I give a shit. Who cares? Let the bitch cry.”

(Y/n)’s eyes widened at her own words, Hajime staring at her in shock before shaking his head and leaning closer to the girl, “Are you- are you feeling alright?”

“Fuck off, I don’t need your bug-eyes staring at me,” before she could stop herself, more insults were hurling out of her mouth - almost alarmingly fast.

Ibuki hummed thoughtfully, “You know, Hajime’s eyes always did look a little fly-ey.”

“I don’t have bug-eyes,” Hajime glared weakly at (Y/n), “Do you still feel sick?”

“Puhuhuhuhu!” interrupted any more conversation, Monokuma giggling loudly, “It seems some of your friends have caught the Despair Disease!”

Mikan jumped slightly, “Despair Disease?!” she walked to (Y/n) and Ibuki, placing a soft hand on their foreheads, “They’re awfully warm.”

“Whore,” (Y/n) spat as she knocked the nurse’s hand from her forehead.

“W-whore?!” Mikan jumped back, curling into herself, tears bubbling at her water line.

"Surprise! It's your next motive!" Monokuma exclaimed, clearly proud of his plan,  "Ibuki has the Gullible Disease, Akane has the Coward Disease, Nagito has the Liar Disease, and (Y/n) has the Morose Disease!"

Glancing over to where Nagito was avidly dismissing any possible feeling of illness, Hajime nodded slightly before looking back to the sulking, brooding girl beside him, “I guess that makes sense.”

With a final warning of the disease being contagious, Monokuma left and Mikan was quick to emphasis that the sick should be taken to the hospital.

“I don’t need to be looked after,” (Y/n) sneered, utterly horrified at the words her mouth was spewing without her consent, “Especially by Little Ms. Piggy.”

“If (Y/n) doesn’t need to be looked after than neither do I!” Ibuki shouted.

Hajime rolled his eyes, “Yeah, I know. Everyone, just follow me.”

“I hope this never ends!”

“Shut your mouth before I stitch it shut, hope boy.”

After everyone was settled into their own rooms, with their own caretaker, (Y/n) tried to keep her mouth shut as Mikan, Fuyuhiko, and Hajime stood around her room. Chiaki was still busy calming down Akane from a cry-fest over stepping on Hajime’s foot earlier in the day.

Hajime sat by (Y/n)’s bedside, eyes flickering from the girl to Mikan as the nurse checked her vitals, “If I knew you calling me the Ultimate Friend would lead to this, I wouldn’t have gone over,” he tried joking. Just to ease the tension of the room.

Once again, without fail, (Y/n)’s lips flew open before she could stop herself, “Ultimate Friend? More like Ultimately Useless, get me a fucking doctor. Not some whiny-bitch nurse and two cuckolds.”

Silence festered in the room, (Y/n) tossing herself back to try and fall asleep as fast as possible. No longer wishing to live with the consequences of her own actions.

“This’ll be a long-fucking-while, then,” Fuyuhiko huffed.

Placing her head in her hands, (Y/n) sighed, flinching slightly when she felt someone pull her hands away to uncover her face, Hajime doing his best to give the girl a comforting smile, “We’ll get over this, like we always do. Nobody else is dying, right? We said it ourselves.”

Nodding, (Y/n) did her best to keep her mouth shut to refrain from ruining the moment. 

Nobody else would die.

Nobody… 

“See?” Hajime looked up to the nurse, “Don’t you agree, Mikan?”